Bleeding Out
by Spartan-303
Summary: Spartan-III's. Made for suicide missions, and operations of equal danger. But what happens when one of those missions goes wrong, and drags not only a team of Spartans, but also an entire Charon Class Frigate and her crew to a world unknown to them.
1. Chapter 1

**I'll mainly be using chapter 1 to introduce characters and the setting. This will be a crossover, as per the tags, but not at least for three-five chapters. For now, I'll be creating the lead up to the Spartan team appearing in Remnant, and it'll be pretty fucking obvious how, so don't get you're hopes up on some original stuff. I also, I know next to nothing about the Rwby series, this is more or less helping me improve my creative writing skills in the form of writing about something I know, and mixing it with something I don't, so criticism is welcome.**

Chapter 1: The Fall of Reach (Essential Prologue)

"This is Raven-SL to Hammerfall, sector-113-093 is clear, moving to inspect nearby valley ." "Copy that Raven-SL, be advised that fire team Hawk is now on standby and ready to assist. Hammerfall out." As I ceased communication with command I heard a slight chuckle to my right. "We won't need their help." Several other of my teammates let out the same reaction as him. "Ya, well, don't get too cocky. They will saved your ass back at the relay station." His attitude shifted quite quickly after that. "Ya, well they kicked your ass in training before the shit hit the fan Jackson." "It's Lieutenant to you, Spartan, now get your gear sorted, we have to move."

It's been several weeks since the Covenant invaded Reach, and so far the defence has been crumbling. Day after day another front is lost, and with it, more brothers and sisters. Being a Spartan-III of the UNSC is no easy task, being the Lieutenant of a squad is much harder, especially when idiots like Franklin make it hard for you. Either way, the defence of the planet was still there, and we had to keep it alive.

Back to the operation at hand, myself and a small team of my platoon had been sent behind enemy lines to locate a possible landing zone being used by the Covenant. My team included Franklin, the smart-mouthed demo-man. Katy, our resident genius with a sniper. Sam, the devil with a med-kit. And last but not least, Barry, the silent communications operator. And of course, there was me, the 'hard ass, kind hearted' lieutenant of the team. A title so graciously given to me by my team. Our team, 'Raven' was well known for being reassigned often, and was able to adapt to new circumstances with ease, along with integration into most, if not all units we work with.

As we continued towards our objective of a nearby valley I heard Katy over my radio. "Contact, bearing 218, three Elites, Zealot class." The moment the radio cracked to life the entire team took a knee and readied their weapons. I turned my head to the direction our sniper was looking. "It seems as if we're headed in the right direction. Did they see us?" "Negative, they seem to be moving towards Noble team's location." Once again, Franklin spoke up. "Well best of luck to them, heard it was only two of them out here tonight." As we rose to keep moving Barry spoke up. "Was that words of encouragement, Franklin?" He shrugged in response. "Ya, well I don't hate 'everyone' you know."

"Another group, bearing 110. Same numbers, but this time their rangers." I looked towards the direction in which Katy had point out the enemy. "That's the third one this. Keep you're eyes out team. I don't want to run into any-" "Contact! Right side!" "-surprises..." Flinging my weapon towards my three O'clock I saw the contact in question. A group of Elites with a small unit of grunts. Nothing we couldn't handle. As Katy and Franklin began firing on the enemy, Barry, Sam and myself began moving to better firing positions. As I found a decent one behind a mound of dirt I hit the floor and raised my assault rifle, ready to fire on the enemy. But before I could even place my finger on the trigger I saw the last elite have his brains splattered all over the tree behind him. I looked over my shoulder to see Franklin shaking his head as Katy swapped her empty mag with a fresh one. As she did so she announced "You all need to catch up. I'm 23-0 here." "Who's the 0?" Asked Sam. Katy turned to him, saying "You guys", and the continued walking to our destination.

Another hour later, after two firefights and us finnaly getting up two points on the score we found the valley we were sent to find. And in it, nothing. "Well this sure was a great use of time" said Franklin, kicking a small rock over the edge. Getting in touch with Hammerfall I relayed what we found. "Hammerfall, this Raven-SL. Valley is a no-go. I repeat, valley is clean. Over?" "Copy that Raven, we just received news that Noble has already discovered the landing site. Report back to the FOB for reassignment." I paused for a moment, taking in what he had just said. "Repeat last Hammerfall. Did you say 'reassignment'?" "That's affirmative Raven. You're team is being placed on the UNSC Tip of the Spear to assist in the upcoming naval battle. This may be the last time I speak to you, so... Good luck out there Raven." "To you as well Hammerfall. Raven out." As I ceased radio communication I looked at my teammates, and they all gave me quick nods. "Alright, let's get back to base, Raven."

As we made it back to base we noticed the sun was just rising, and about eighty percent of the bases personnel had already moved out to engage that enemy at their landing zone. Moving towards the air-pad we noticed a Pelican was already spooling up and a deck officer was approaching us. "Good morning Raven. As I'm sure you know you'll be moving to the UNSC Tip of the Spear commanded by Captain Hardy. Pelican has all your gear already loaded, as per the Captain's request so you can get to the ship ASAP." As my team began to quickly board the Pelican I stopped the deck officer. "I know we were told not to hassle with anything regarding the reassignment, but do you know why we're being moved to a Naval Vessel?" "You're taking part in a special operation. The boarding of a covenant super carrier. And you guys are helping blow it to hell." With the the deck officer went back to his business and I was pretty much dragged onto the pelican, ready to begin our next mission.


	2. Chapter 2

**Not the assumed three thousand words, but a fair effort. I'm mainly using these first few chapters as story builders, so don't expect much. Either way, enjoy the read.**

Chapter 2

The ride up to the ship was an eventful one, and was much longer than it needed to be. We spent an hour sitting in near silence, with one or two of the team engaging in short conversation. Other than that, we either used the time to catch up on sleep or check our gear over. After said hour the pilot announced over the radio "We're coming up on the 'Tip of the Spear' now. Get your bags ready and have a fantastic vacation, Spartans." With a slight chuckle from Franklin, the team moved into gear as we gathered out weapons, gear and other personal belongings.

A few minutes later we touched down in what appeared to be a dry-dock for a single ship. That ship being the UNSC Tip of the Spear. She was a Charon class, used for planetary assaults and landings. Carrying up to three pelican drop-ships, several vehicles and up to three companies of marines, it was a ship class worth it's weight in silver. As my team dismounted we were greeted by a woman who wore the uniform of an officer. Her hair was a duty brown and her face seemed aged, yet she looked as if she was in her early thirties. As she approached me she held out a hand. "Lieutenant Jackson I presume. My name is Captain Hardy, commanding officer of this fine vessel here." "Pleasure to meet you Captain" I responded. "I assume we'll be setting off soon due to our dire circumstances?" Her smile faded slightly, but didn't disappear. "Indeed. And the mission won't be an easy one. We'll be setting sail in five hours. Get your team settled and meet me on the bridge. I'll explain there." A quick nod later and she was on her way. I turned around to face my team who all gave me nods of approval, and with that we set off towards the ship to find our quarters.

"Didn't expect the captain to be a girl. Let alone good looking one." Franklin remarked from his bunk while polishing his sidearm. "Good looking?" Responded Sam. "Did you see her face. She looked like she was fifty, going on sixty." "Ya, well it doesn't mean she has a bad look under all that. Some make up and surgery and she'd be a solid eight out of ten." As they continued to dwell on that topic Katy shook her head at them and turned her head to me and Barry. "I'm glad you two are more respectful than them. Honestly, what did I do to get put in the same team as them?" I chuckled at her joke. "I don't know, be glad you don't have to babysit them twenty four seven." "Ya, I only do weekdays." With that, she went back to the task of cleaning her sniper rifle, and I turned to Barry. "Make sure they don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. Once I return I'll do a quick briefing on our mission." With a quick nod and an "Aye, aye" I was out the door and on my way to the bridge.

As I was walking I noticed a number of marines on board. More specifically, marines in combat gear. Not knowing was what going on bothered me more than anything else in the world, so it helped quicken my pace to a slow jog in order to quickly reach the bridge. As I stepped through the doors to said room I was greeted by the Captain. "Ah, Lieutenant. Good to see you. I was just about to come looking for you." She then turned around and led me to a small tactical table in the middle of the room. I took a quick glance around at the room. It was identical to all other Charon Class frigates, at least in terms of design. The Captain then drew my attention to the table. "As you know, the Covenant has been stepping up it's game in it's attempt to take the planet. Thank's to the efforts of Noble team and others we've been able to hold their attack, at least for now. But something just popped up, something ONI doesn't want a chance to miss." "Like what?" I responded. The captain then flicked the table to life, showing a small Covenant Corvette. "This ship, while small and of low strength, is carrying someone of great importance. An Elite Admiral. If we could possibly capture him, we could turn the tide on the Covies. Their chain of command would be broken, at least for a while. And that's where you come in Lieutenant."

Taking a deep sigh, I looked back at the Captain. "You want my team to board their Corvette, capture the Admiral and bring him back to our ship to deliver him to ONI?" Shrugging her shoulders, she continued. "More or less. We would send in Spartan-II's, but their... preoccupied. And all other Spartan teams are engaged in matters that were more important than yours, so it only seemed wise to reassign you. And on top of the fact that Raven is known to do well with improvising, we could pull this off. Plus, we will have help." As she finished her sentence, a small hologram popped up from the table in the shape of a dog and let out a happy bark at me. "This is Siris. The on board A.I for the 'Tip of the Spear'. He'll be providing your team with valuable information during the operation." I turned my head to face the projection. "A dog?" I asked. "Yes. It's kind of a test, really. ONI want's to know if having an A.I that resembles 'Man's best friend' would help with morale."

Pushing the topic aside I further questioned the Captain. "As I was making my way here I noticed a large amount of the marines on board were combat ready. Any reason as to why?" She chuckled slightly before speaking. "Well it's not like the planets being invaded or anything. To answer your question, we're making sure we're ready for any possibility. Counter-boarding, combat on the hull of the ship, if you guys need back-up. That sort of thing." "Well, what will happen after this mission? Will we continue to serve on the ship?" "Until a time where you are needed elsewhere." She responded. "your purpose here is to complete this mission and move on. Now, I'd suggest you make your way back to your quarters. We'll be lifting off in a few hours so I'd recommend getting as much rest as possible." With that she gave me a quick salute, which I returned before leaving the room.

"Raven to the hanger. I repeat, Raven to the hanger." As the buzz of the intercom cut my team started to move. It was go time. "You think after two hundred years we'd find a better way to communicate with soldiers compare to a foghorn." Of course Sam was the first one to speak against Franklin. "Well what do you expect? A group of strippers to come in here with the message imprinted on their tits?" Franklin only laughed at that. "Well, I wouldn't complain." "Right, both of you are on radio silence unless it relates to the mission, am I clear?" As I finished speaking both Spartans snapped into gear pretty quick, knowing the punishment always involved push-ups. I turned to see Barry and Katy were already out the door, only waiting for myself and the other two. I quickly grabbed my rifle and some extra ammunition from my pack and was walking out the door with the other two close behind.

As we entered the hanger we saw most of the crew were in 'the zone'. They didn't need to be told twice to check fuel, or adjust the missile pods. They just... did it. Soon we were approached by the hangars launch officer. "Greetings Raven, your pelican is the one at the far end. You'll be waiting there for about twenty minutes while we are on approach to the target. If you have any questions, Siris will be more than happy to help." "Siris?" I heard from behind me, it was Sam. "Ship's A.I, surprised he hasn't said hello yet. But I'm sure he will." Before Sam could question her, she was already running off to yell at some marines who dropped a box that said fragile on the side. As we entered the Pelican we each took our seats.

As the team did one last check of our gear I decided to do one last briefing. "Alright. You all know the plan well enough but I'll go over it one more time. First, the 'Tip of the Spear' will be launching an attack on the Corvette, while at the same time jamming it's transmissions. From there we will conduct a smash landing in the hanger of the ship, while at the same time the engines will be knocked out. The Covies WILL realise that their signals are being jammed and will try to find a way around that, so during our approach to the bridge, Barry and Franklin will move into the communication hub and disable it. While this is happening, Sam, Katy and myself will breach the bridge, kill the crew there, incapacitate or subdue the Admiral and move him back to our ship. Clear?" A unanimous "Clear" was heard from the team, just in time for our pilot and four marines to join us. "Alright Raven" I said, loading a fresh clip into my rifle "Let's get it done."


	3. Chapter 3

**Going to try a different style of writing that was suggested for this chapter, and then I may switch back. If it's preferred by readers I may continue with it, but the way I normal write is the way I prefer just as it helps with my work flow, so I don't know how well this will go.**

Chapter 3

A few moments passed before the engines of the pelican roared to life. A blue glow emanating from the tail wings began to glow brighter and brighter until the vehicle started to lift from the floor of the hanger. As the ramp before us closed the vehicles started to move forwards quite quickly. A few moments later the pilots voice came through on the intercom. "We are approaching the target now. Estimated time until contact with the hanger is two minutes."

I then stood up, grabbing my rifle from the rack above my head before turning around to address my team. "Remember the plan. Franklin and Barry will take and keep the communications relay down, while Katy, Sam and myself make our way to the bridge and acquire the target. Remember to check your corners, watch for active camo and keep your six clean."

The team all have me a quick nod before we heard the ramp behind us start to hiss open. Once again the pilots voice came through. "Hanger is clear, no hostiles in sight. Proceed to exit the vehicle Raven."

As the team disembarked the Pelican shot through the other end of the enemy ship, leaving us to carry out the mission. "I'll be back to pick you up when your ready." As the pilots voice disappeared from the radio we were in a technical sense, alone.

I looked around, scanning the large room around us, seeing nothing. Motion tracker was also clear, which started to raise questions. "Maybe they didn't expect us to land on their ship." Announced Franklin from the rear.

Thinking nothing by it I turned around, beginning to address the team. "Alright, the door to your left is the door we need to take. Let's move."

With that the team began to start a light jog to the door, keeping the same pace up as we continued through the unfamiliar hallways. "Barry, where is the communications relay?"

We moved down the hallway, passing one more door before he spoke up. "Just here, on the right."

"Alright" I responded. "You and Franklin get in there and do what you need to do. Once the relay is down radio through to Hardy and inform her of your progress." A quick nod from Barry had my team moving towards the bridge.

The hallways were still clear, which was getting to the point of it being extremely strange. "You think we'd see something by now, right?" "Ya" I said in response to Sam. "This is just getting weir-"

As if on Que several elites came from the doors to our front, left and right. With myself facing the front, Katy the right and Sam the left we each had our targets and went about eliminating them. I emptied about ten rounds into the first elite, taking down his shields and then pulling my side arm up to finish him off, which worked wonders. The second one came at me with an energy swords which I ducked, then coming up with my pistol in the hinge of his jaw I fired off three shots, taking him down all the same. The third one did the same, only this time I drew my knife, slashing at this legs, bringing him to his knees. Knocking his sword aside I grabbed his head, pushed it to the left and drove my knife down his neck, killing him immediately.

I then pulled my knife from his neck, cleaning it off on my armour and sliding it back into it's holding place. I looked back down the way we came to see Katy and Sam come round their respective corners after they finished off their contacts. "Well I guess that's why it was quiet. They were waiting for us."

"Aye. Which means the bridge will also be prepared for our arrival." I pulled a fresh clip for my AR from a pouch, pulling the used one out and replacing it. We then continued down the next hallway, more alert than before. As we entered yet another hallway we noticed something at the end of the room. The door, it was much different than the ones we had seen on the rest of the ship. "That must be the bridge."

"You don't say" replied Sam. "You think their ready for us inside?"

"Of course they are. Where else would the rest of the crew be?"

A split second later the radio came to life and Barry's voice came over transmitting. "Raven-lead, this is Raven-2. Communications relay is offline, we'll continue to keep it that way until a point where the mission moves to exfil phase."

"Copy that Raven-2, keep us posted. Raven-lead out." I quickly changed channels to get into contact with Hardy. "Captain Hardy, this Raven. The next door we see seems to lead to the bridge. Any Intel on it from your end?"

"Affirmative Raven. I'll have Siris update your motion tracker with enemy positions. It also seems like their ready for you, so you'll need to make your entrance as loud as possible. And also, for the sake of operations, use the call-sign."

"Copy that Havoc. We'll keep you posted. Raven out." As the radio died down I turned to my two teammates. "So, either of you got any ideas on how to get in there and kill the..." I looked at my motion tracker, taking count of the hostiles in the room. I noticed one was golden, meaning that was the admiral. "Eleven. How do we kill the other eleven hostiles?"

Katy seemed to begin mumbling something, only to stop herself short, shaking her head. Sam spoke up a few moments after. "We could always flash and bash? Toss one half cooked flash and three raw frags in? Could take most of them out before they know what's going on."

I considered this for a moment, thinking if we threw the grenades closer to the door the admiral would be OK and at least nine of his soldiers would bite the dust. "It's either that or we breach it. And the latter is really a bad idea."

I turned to Katy, who shrugged her shoulders. "I got nothing."

"Alright then." I said. "It's the best plan we got. Stack up on the door and get those nades ready."

We then half jogged to the door, standing in the gaps on either side. I looked at Sam across the way who had a flash in on hand and a frag in the other. Both Katy and I had frags ourselves. "Ready?"

A quick nod from Sam answered my question. He pulled the pin off his flash, chucking it in the room as soon as the door slid open. He then pulled the pin on the frag as the flash went off, both Katy and I doing the same and chucked them in. A few seconds later explosions were heard, along with screams of elites and grunts. With that we entered the bridge.

The first enemy I saw still standing was an elite major. I rushed him, letting off several rounds into his torso before bashing him over the head with the butt of my weapon. As he fell to the ground with his shields dying with a soft sizzle I let off a few more rounds in his head, finishing him off. I rose my head to see a grunt charging me with a plasma pistol. I took cover behind a nearby console as he let off a few charges. Pulling my side arm I let one round in his head to all the work, only to shift my sights to the enemy behind him. The admiral.

He was an elite, standing an intimidating nine feet tall. He rushed me with what looked like an energy dagger. I pulled the knife from my shoulder mount as I placed my rifle on my back, quickly parrying his strike into a deadlock. He snarled in my face for a moment before I shot him in the left with my pistol. His shields were down to my surprise, possibly due to the grenades. He fell to his knee, letting out a screech of pain before I used the other end of my knife to slam him across the face, knocking him out cold.

I turned around to see Katy and Sam done with the hostiles they engaged, so I proceeded to contact the Captain as I secured the admiral. "Havoc, this is Raven. Package is secure, proceeding to exfil." A response came through quite quickly. "Good job Raven but your not out of the fire yet. Our sensors just picked up a large group of hostiles on the stern of the ship. You better make your way to the hanger quickly. We've sent the pelican to pick you up along with several marines, so don't keep them waiting."

"Affirm Havoc, Raven out." I picked up the admiral across my shoulders and started running to the door with Sam and Katy in tow. It didn't take us long to reach the area where Franklin and Barry where, who followed us through all the same.

As we reached the hanger we saw several marines holding off an onslaught of covies from the door opposite us. We began sprinting down to the ship when the marines noticed us. "Get the package on board now! We gotta go!" I threw the admiral into the pelican and raised my rifle towards the covenant forces to hold them off. "Get on board Raven! You too marines!"

As I continued to fire at the enemy, keeping them in place I saw the last man board and jumped on myself. As the door of the pelican quickly slid shut the force of the acceleration nearly knocked me off my feet. We were clear of the hangar. I took this time to do a quick headcount. Everyone was there, including the marine fire team. I radioed into command to tell them the good news.

"Havoc, this is Raven. Mission is complete, we're just coming into our hangar now. Zero casualties."

"Fantastic work, Raven. It's a good thing ONI sent you guys in. Get the package to the brig and report to the bridge afterwards, we're bugging out."

As the pelican came to a landing I felt the force of the ships main engines shake us a little. The pelican doors hissed open and I dragged the groggy admiral to his feet and got him to start walking through the hanger. He was flanked on all sides by Raven, so escape would have been difficult for him.

As we passed marines and naval crewmen they either gave us thumbs up and smiles, or the admiral looks of disgust and hatred. He snarled as every single one of them.

As we were walking down the hallway, leading the now conscious admiral to the brig I took a moment to reflect on the operation. It went well all things considered, but I kept thinking, why did he keep most of his men near the stern of ship? I brushed it off as him trying to intercept us during our exfil. Wanting to get my mind of it I decided to talk to Barry. "So, did you guys find anything while you were in the communication hub."

He turned to face me. "Nothing much. Some channel codes and s- Boss, the package!"

 **I felt as this chapter needed to be very straight forward. Not much faffing about so we can get a move on.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I forgot to mention a few things when starting this story in chapter 1. I'm mainly using this as a way to increase my skill in creative writing, but also make a story that is enjoyable at the same time. That means I will be putting time and effort into this, but only when it suits me, what is why I make chapters that are somewhat shorter, but are decent enough in quality. There is also the fact that the first couple chapters are what I'm using to create a setting. They will double in length when I get to what I would call, the 'main story'. These first few chapters are being used as a prologue of sorts. Anyway, enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 4

"Boss, the package!" As Barry rose his weapon I quickly turned my head forward, only to be knocked down by the towering elite. He had somehow broken his shackles, and began running down the corridor as he hit me. I looked towards Franklin who has his DMR raised to shoot him. I jumped at him, lowering his weapon.

"We have to take him alive, remember." I began running after him with the rest of my team in tow. It took less than a second for the captain to come over the radio comms. "Siris is freaking out in here, what's going on Raven?"

"The package has broken his shackles and is on the loose. Lock down the entire stern section of the ship now!" As I finished saying that I saw multiple doors I passed have a red light flicker on as we ran past. The elite also realised this, ducking into a room on his left quite quickly. As we reached the door I saw that it had sealed itself. "Havoc, this is Raven, I need you to open the door number 21." "Affirm Raven, wait one."

A few seconds later the door hissed open and we raised our weapons to find a pitch black room. We slowly entered, with Sam flicking the rooms light on as we came in. A quick scan of the room showed it to be empty. I quickly flicked my eyes to my motion tracker seeing that he was exactly where I saw standing. I looked to the ground, seeing nothing, but as I rose my head I saw an air vent, and running along it towards my front was an open access vent.

Turning on my heels I started following the now fast moving red dot out the door and down to the left of the hallway, with my team following. I got in contact with the captain once more. "Raven to Havoc, the target is in the air vents, moving towards the engine bay. Is there anything you can do to stop him?"

"Affirmative Raven, but it won't do much. We'll cut off his oxygen supply so he'll be slowed down." A quick hiss from the air vent confirmed this, and I was thankful for the oxygen supply our SPI suits had. This did indeed work, but to a small degree. The admiral continued to move, all be it at a slower rate. Following along with at a short jog we reached the door to the engine room, only to hear banging on the other side of it.

"Havoc , this is Raven, the lock down is off on the engine door but it's not opening, what's going on?"

"Wait one." A few moments passed before a response came through. "He's blocked the door and dented the joints inwards. We can't open it from our end."

"But I can open it from ours." I turned around to see Franklin holding an explosive charge. Pondering it for a moment I gave him a nod of approval. While the rest of the team stacked up on either side of the door, Franklin went to work. It took two minutes for him to set it up, and during it the captain came back on the radio. "Hurry up Raven, he's doing something to the engine controls and has somehow locked us out."

"We'll be in there in a few moments Havoc." I turned my attention back to Franklin, who gave me a thumbs up and said "Floors all yours, sir." I flicked the level of the detonator open, and gave a quick countdown. "3, 2, 1, breach!"

I pressed the button on the detonator and the door flung itself open after a loud explosion. On both sides of the door members of the team breach into the engine room, to see the admiral at the far end of the room, next to the control panel. Turning towards the door, most likely in response to the explosion I saw him hovering his hand over the control panel.

"It's too late, demons. I've already set my plan of a better death in motion." It was at this moment I noticed what the large screen behind him read. 'Jump drive ready. Destination: Unknown. Power output: Critical. Chance of successful jump: 1%'

"Are you insane!? If you push that button you'll send us and yourself on a one way ticket to hell!" The distress in Sams voice was clear, as he had also read the text behind the admiral. He cackled slightly before responding. "Insane? Maybe. Most likely. But even if I'm insane I will be greatly rewarded in the afterlife. Not only will I be killing a team of demons, but I'll also be sending an entire enemy vessel straight to hell."

I shook my head at this. "But what's the point. You lost, and my understanding of the elite society is that once you lose a battle, let alone a ship, then you've lost all honour." He growled in response to this. "I know my own code, demon. But this... Doing this will restore that honour beyond what I need. A lone admiral breaking from his shackles and destroying an enemy craft?" His laughter was guttural, but also filled with sadistic intentions.

As he continued to speak I saw Barry edge closer to the right, getting to the point where he would drop out of the admirals view. "And once I stand before our gods, I will be accepted into their haven a hero! For slaying those stand against them!"

"But what if your wrong. What if your gods don't want this how can you be sure?" Oddly enough, he paused. He had a look that made it seem as if he was contemplating this, before changing back to the original emotion an elite shows. Anger. "Only one way to find out.

But before he could continue, Barry was close enough to tackle him to the ground, and lunged at him. They scuffled for a moment before Barry was thrown off of him and tried to land on his feet, but instead found himself on his back. The admiral got back up and lunged for the button, but as he did so Katy let off a single round into his head, killing him instantly, but not before his hand fell upon the ignition button.

 **ELSEWHERE**

It's been a long day for Winter, and a walk in the bases courtyard during the night always helped her wind down. She had a group of new recruits dropped on her after General Ironwood thought she would make an excellent teacher. Along with the recent attack on Beacon, the recent two months had been a mess. Rubbing her temples she looked up into the night sky, remembering how many new recruits had enlisted in order to combat the now deadly and somehow organised grimm. And on top of all that, the white fang had been making moves, making them a new threat.

Getting her mind off of it she continued to observe the stars. Truly they were the beauty of the sky. Never changing, always shining. But for a split second she was certain, that in one exact spot in the sky, she thought she saw a new star appear.

 **It's shorter today because I'm planning to make the next chapter, and all those after it double in terms of length, or maybe longer. It may be up to three weeks before I do continue as my civil defence training begins tomorrow, and after that I go on holiday. I will be writing while I am gone however, so chapter 5 may be one massive chapter. Who knows, I may knock off four chapters in one.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**'Bush fires will happen again. Make your plan to survive at . now to make your plan to survive. Or if you live in an area outside of South Australia, talk to your local CFS, Fire Brigade or Emergency Service unit to make your plan today.'**_

 **I'm writing that because I just heard from a mate in the CFS (Country Fire Service) that his house just burned down, to a fire he was fighting. Imagine hearing that your house is gone, lost to a bush fire. Now imagine watching it burn down as a person who could have stopped it. As a newly made member of the SASES (South Australian State Emergency Service) I will be doing a small part to help preventing bush fires and various other emergencies, and it feels right to just put this message out there to anyone to help them. And if you live in an area that has a volunteer emergency force, please consider volunteering, because not only do you meet mates for life and help the community in a big way, it also looks bloody good on a resume, especially with the military. Anyway, enough of that, read on and enjoy.**

Chapter 5: Where demons rise, angels will fall

The kind of headache I woke with one one that could be compared to a jackhammer. I felt my head pound every second as I rolled to my side, groaning. My eyes took several minutes to adjust, trying to see clearly again and my throat was drying than the Mojave. I tried to sit up, taking much longer than usual and my eyes finnaly began to see clearly again. I looked around, I will still in the engine room and so was the rest of my team. As they began to go through the process of getting back to working order I went to get up, having trouble for a moment before being able to stand. My legs felt weak and stiff, but I was able to walk.

It was at this moment I saw the admiral, lying face first on the ground next to the control panel. I walked up to him, every step helping towards getting me back to normal and I knelt down next to him, feeling parts of my body creak for a moment. His eyes were glazed over and his mouth dry. Dead before he even hit the ground. I looked up towards the control panel. It seemed intact, but a red light seemed to be flickering on and off from it. I then turned my head towards the screens. 'Location: Unknown. Jump drive status: Destroyed. Jump rating: Semi-successful.'

"Well it seems we were in that 1%." I turned around to face the source of the voice. It was Barry. Him and the others were up on their feet.

"Ya. Question is where to." A short moment later the radio came to life, with Captain Hardy on the other end. "Raven, this is Havoc. Are you guys ok down there?"

"Ya, we're fine." I said, looking at my teammates and getting nods of approval. "What about you guys? And the rest of the ship?"

I heard a sigh of relief on her end before she started speaking once more. "Well it's a miracle. We only had one injury and it's a sprained ankle so everyone is technically fine. As soon as you are able get up to the bridge, we need to discuss our next course of action."

With that the radio died out. I turned to my team. "Get his body out an airlock. But no disgracing it, we're not like them." I looked at the lifeless body of the elite and heard a collective "Yes, sir." amongst the team.

I turned around and started walking towards the door. I looked at Barry as I went by. "Barry, with me." He gave me a quick nod and began to follow. We were only a few meters down the hall when an armed group of marines went running down the hallway with equipment in tow. It looked like base building materials. I turned to Barry who shrugged and motioned for us to keep moving.

We soon reached the bridge and it's crew were frantically moving about, trying to make heads or tails of the current situation. I soon found the Captain who gave us a warm smile as we entered. "Glad you could join us lieutenant." Siris also appeared and gave us a happy bark.

"A dog?" I forgot Barry hadn't seen him yet. "ONI project. People like dogs, raises morale or some crap." "Ah."

"Gentlemen, may we continue." I gave the captain a quick nod. "Right. Well reports say the jump drive is dead. As we exited the jump it's reactor core imploded, causing the whole thing to melt down and become irreparable. We are so bloody lucky however, as it was contained to the point of the reactor not destroying everything in a one hundred kilometre radius."

"And the good news?" I asked in response. "That was the 'best' news Lieutenant. We also have no fucking clue where we are."

She then began to walk towards the viewing window from the ships bridge. Outside we saw a planet, earth like in appearance but it's countries no where near the same as ours. "We tried to track our path from Reach, but it seems as if the path was cut off halfway, meaning we have no idea where we are, no idea what's on that planet, which I should inform you is our best chance of survival at this moment, and no way of getting in contact with the UNSC."

"What do you mean the planet is our best chance of survival?" The Captain gave me a look that indicated something good. "For the last ten minutes I've had Siris scan it's surface. Not only is the gravity the same as earths, but it also has a stable atmosphere, meaning air, vegetation, fauna and best of all, people."

"People?" "Yes, civilisation." The Captain said in response. "We've found dozens of small settlements around the planet, along with a few major ones. Seems as if we have stumbled upon a new race. Or possibly, one of the lost colonies."

I looked back towards the planet, scanning it for a moment. The planet itself was only half the size of earth, but it's appearance could possibly fool someone who hadn't seen it in a long time. "What now?" I said, turning back to the Captain. "Well, you and your team, plus a group of marines will land on the surface and help set up an FOB. From that FOB we will have you scout out the nearest settlement and report back to us. If you feel the need to investigate closer, feel free. But just remember, this isn't a UNSC owned planet, we have next to no authority here. If you need to defend yourselves, do so, but if you can try not to kill anyone unless you absolutely have to, got it?"

I have her a quick nod. "Yes, ma'am. We'll get ready right away." As began walking towards the door with Barry the Captain stopped me. "If this race is friendly, tell me, we may be able to strike up an agreement that would benefit us both." "Yes, ma'am." With that Barry and myself began walking towards the hangar, eager to get underway.

The journey down to the planet was a rough one, much bumpier than anticipated. But once we broke through the cloud barrier it was quite smooth. Several pelicans, including one holding base supplies were heading down to the planet, more specifically to one of the large countries. It's surface seemed to be in an equivilent of spring time, as the weather and vegetation colouring seemed to match.

After ten minutes of flying I moved up to the pilots cockpit to see what was taking so long. As I entered I saw a large patch of empty ground, which the pilot them commented on. "That's where we'll be landing. Once we get you guys and the marines planet side we'll be returning to the _Tip of the Spear_ in order to bring down more supplies."

I gave a sign of acknowledgement and went back into the passenger area of the drop ship. A moment later the door opened and the planet became closer and closer as we descended towards the ground. Once the drop ship made contact my team and the marines with us disembarked, just in time to see several other pelicans hit the ground with their passengers disembarking. One of the drop ships didn't have anyone, but had three large boxes that contained the supplies we would need to construct the FOB.

I turned around to face my team and began giving orders. "Sam, Franklin, you two go help those marines set up the buildings. Barry, communications. Katy, you and I will start doing quick recon around this opening. Got it?" I saw nods all around and each member began to move off to begin their specific tasks.

"Found anything yet?" "Negative. Thermals are clean excluding ours and small, woodland animals." Both Katy and myself had been scouting out a five kilometre radius from the FOB. So far we'd found next to nothing other than evidence of a possible larger creature.

"Alright, let's start packing it up. I want to get back so we can get something to eat." I turned to Katy who didn't respond. "Katy?" Still nothing. I saw she was laying on the ground looking out through a gap in the trees. I knew she'd seen something odd, so I layed down next to her and pulled my binos out. "Bearing?"

"115. Large animal. Looks like a bear, but with very odd colouration and very long claws." I adjusted my view to said bearing and saw the animal in question. It was large, bigger than a bear. It had a base colour of jet black with white and red accents to it. I looked at the face and saw the eyes had a blood red colour to them, which led down to the claws. They were razor sharp by the look of it, and reaching two metres in length.

"I don't want to get caught by that thing." "Ya, well adjust sight to bearing 210, range, about 423 meters. First tree you see." I moved my sights again, seeing the tree in question. It looked normal enough, had the green leaf texture and bark was brown, but with a large chunk missing from it.

"Looks like a 50. cal ripped through that." "That's be more than a 50. cal." I turned to Katy as she continued to explain. "That tree is a good... two metres thick. Sure, a 50. cal would tear through it, but it would never do something that big. That's chunk is way to large. If anything you would need a bullet the size of an old era artillery shell to do that. Or something with enough force behind it to tear through six tanks and a hillux."

"What the hell is a hillux, Katy?" She chuckled slightly before getting up and packing up her gear. "Old car, think Toyota made them? My dad found one and fixed it up before he shipped off. Cost him a fortune too, seeing as the parts are as rare as a good ration pack. " We started walking back to the base. "Your parents do anything like that with you?"

I shook my head. "Na, never knew them. At least not personally. They were both marines, my dad an ODST. I lived with my grandfather for a time, he was marine as well during the Innie wars. As soon as my parents died he started making plans to make me into an ODST, like my dad. I didn't argue." As we continued walking we could hear the leaves rustling around us.

"But a few weeks after they were KIA, he had a heart attack and I was orphaned. A few days later the UNSC picked me up. Because my dad was an ODST they would do me one better than ODST's. Then I found myself in the SP-III training camp, trying to make myself as equal to my father as possible." Katy didn't say much after that. All she could manage was a low 'wow' amongst herself.

We made it back to base with no problems, and found it to be much farther along than anticipated. Even had a small sign up most likely made by Franklin. _'Camp megaton'_ , only a demo man could make a name like that.

We walked through a small gate with a metal fence attached to it, doing a full rotation of the base before meeting the other end. There was also a few guard posts that were being manned, and the marines gave us nods as we walked through. We soon found ourselves in the centre of the FOB, which is where the command building was located.

We walked inside to find the rest of raven gathered round a communication station with Hardy's face on a screen. Barry motioned for us to approach and we could hear her voice soon enough. "-progress on the base is amazing. You lot have done some good work. But it's not over just yet. Siris has been scanning the area beyond the short recon teams and has found some movement. Human in nature, so I'd like Raven to go out there and recon it. If nothing is found move to a vantage point two clicks north and gets eyes on a small town and large castle like structure and report in what you find. Havoc out." Soon enough, the radio died away.

"You heard her boss. We have five hours before we need to start the recon, and it's only noon on this planet. I'd say we get a little rest before we get a move on." I thought about it for a moment, before agreeing with him.

"Sounds like a good plan. I'd kill for some shut eye." Franklin said this while pushing past us to his living quarters, with Katy and Sam in tow. I turned back to Barry. "Did Hardy say anything else?" He shrugged his shoulders. "We just reported the status of the base and she assigned us that task, nothing more." I gave him a quick nod and turned around, heading towards the same building as the rest of Raven.

"So what do you think we'll find out here boss? Members of the planets race?" I turned to Franklin during our trek through the late day sun. "Well that's what we're thinking. Hardy did say the movement was human in nature, whatever that means."

It was Katy's turn to give her input. "Maybe a camp? Or just some kids playing." "Maybe." I said in response. "Maybe. Well it is our job to find out, so let's keep moving while it's still daylight." The rest of the hike was rather quiet, other than the odd joke, comment or sound from nature. And on occasion we found some tracks that may have come from the creature we had seen earlier, that kept us alert.

We soon found ourselves close to the target area, which was a clearing in the middle of a large wooden area. As I took a knee the rest of my team followed suite. I turned my head around to face them. "Alright, the target area is two hundred meters up ahead. I want to move up in a line formation with me in the centre, from there we will check our designated sectors of the clearing twice before doing a full search of the area. Got it?" The entire team gave me signs of approval, and before I knew it we had lined up with weapons raised and had begun moving towards the target zone.

As we closed into the twenty metre mark we slowed slightly, as we now had visual of the clearing. Someone had obviously been here. There was a dead fireplace that still looked warm with embers, moved logs for seating, holes in the ground from possible tents and, surprisingly, an empty ration pack. We got closer and entered the clearing ourselves. I did a quick scan of the middle of the area a few times before looking a full one-eighty to try and pick up what had happened here.

The rest of Raven did the same, lowering their weapons and starting to look around. It was not two minutes of looking around at the stuff I had seen earlier before Barry called out my name. "Boss, over here!" I quickly jogged over to his location, kneeling down next to him.

"What did you find?" He pointed down at the ground and my eyes followed. What was sitting there was not one, but at least two dozen round. 5.56 in nature, but looked to be possible hollow point. "Whoever was here, was either military, or very well equipped hunters. My money is on the first option." I picked up one of the rounds as he said this, inspecting it. There was a small A on the back of the round, along with some initials for something. "S.D.C? What do you think that means?"

"Something... Defence Corps? Could be the company that makes them, or the initials of the unit. Either way, we should take them, have them inspected." I nodded in agreement and began gathering everything I could before standing.

I searched around for a few moments longer before stepping on something hard and metallic in the ground. I moved my foot to see what appeared to be a steel peg. Possibly for a tent. I continued to move on only to look up to see something reflective in the treeline to my front. I started to move closer, making the distance between the trees and myself one hundred meters.

A split second later I saw what the reflection was. A long range rifle being held by a soldier wearing silver looking armour. "Contact! Treeline to the west!" I screamed this as I started sprinting back to the other side of the clearing, only to have rounds begin to fly over my head. I skidded to a halt behind a log that had been used as a seat as the rest of my team found their own cover.

The log over to my right had Sam reloading his DMR behind it. "What's with these guys!?" He shouted over the rifle firing going over our heads. "No clue!" I shouted in response, before activating my squad radio. "Raven, weapons free, but try to injure, not kill. We don't know who or what these guys are, and we are technically trespassing. Aim for joints, weapons and equipment. Anything to make them less effective in combat without causing serious injury."

Without needing to hear an affirm I popped up from my log and aimed my rifle at the nearest soldier. Seeing that the enemy had come into the clearing I was able to quickly take a mental note after some quick cover fire before ducking back down. They totalled ten, normal squad size. Armour seemed to be a metal of some sort, rather thin however, sniper and DMR could penetrate in one shot. Their weapons seemed to resemble ours, to an extent. A majority of them were armed with what appeared to be assault rifles, but one had the long range and was taking pot shots. Some of them also had small backpacks with small antenna. Most likely used for communications.

I also noticed something else, that was very crucial. They were terrible shots, seeing as I had to sprint back to cover for at least one hundred meters, they missed every shot. And I ran in a straight line down the middle, so it should have been simple. They also fired in full auto, no burst shots, which was making their already sloppy aim worse.

I popped back up again, seeing the man with the long range rifle. I quickly adjusted my sights and let off five rounds into his weapon. It's sparked slightly as the rounds penetrated and as he tried to fire, it failed. One down, nine to go, or at least six. The rest of my team had been busy, Katy taking out one of the enemies radios and rifles. Sam doing the same thing, Franklin threw a stun grenade and took out another rifle just before the others came back from the SG's effect, and Barry was just about to engage one of them in hand to hand combat.

I took this moment to move closer, popping up from behind cover I shot at another rifle, taking it out only for Katy to shoot his radio pack. After that I rushed one, who seemed to begin to panic and drop his weapon. As he did so I stopped kicked his feet out from under him and shot the man to my right's weapon. This caused enough panic amongst these men to force them into a retreat. They all rushed back to where they came from, the other side of the clearing.

As my team watched them run off I begin to give new orders. "Raven, gather up weapons and equipment research. Anything you can find we take, then we are moving back to the FOB, double time. They know we're here now, and we certainly haven't made a good first impression, so the last thing I want if for our new friends to know where we live. Get to it!"

Without a moment to spare my orders were carried out. Rifles were collected, radio packs gathered and anything else left behind by us. We were out of the clearing in a minute flat, moving at a slow jog to the FOB, un-aware we were already being followed.

We entered the base a short while later, with weapons on our backs and our armour dirty and worn. The gate opened to us, and we quickly jogged inside. I stopped next to the marine working the gate as I passed. "Put the base on medium alert. Be aware of anything approaching the base. Anyone who leaves on patrol or recon, tell them to radio in every ten minutes." "Yes, sir." The marine responded, radioing in to his superior to pass on the orders.

I joined my team in the comms room, setting down the gear I had gathered on a nearby table before Barry activated a line to Hardy. "Raven, good to hear from you." "Likewise Havoc." I said in response. "Have we got a story for you."

 **Rather long chapter. Holiday went well, back feeling fresh and well, and ready to keep writing when my wind down time comes along. I mentioned it before but I'll say it again. Quality of this story is what I write during the hour I use to wind down to fall asleep, and I'm also far from being a decent writer, so any and all criticism is helpful. And don't hold back on being picky, I get enough shits from my mates so I can take a jab. Also, I may or may not do a vote on OCXWinter shit, because that was originally for a lady friend who loved the idea of winter being all emotional and stuff, and wants it to happen for this. However, I'll leave it to you guys if you want a vote done. Anyway, have a good one and stay safe out there.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Tis a poorly written chapter, but it is progress. I'm going to need a little bit to get back into a writing rhythm, so bare with me for a chapter or two. Either way, enjoy.**

Chapter 6: Getting to know the locals

The night was still that day, with not a sound to be heard except for the odd rustle of the trees or the sound of an animal. I volunteered for guard duty that night as I felt some difficulty winding down after the incident with the men in silver armour. From what I knew the scientific members of the 'Tip of the Spear' had begun researching the equipment we brought back. I still didn't know why they had attacked us so suddenly though, and as my mind kept coming back to it I had to keep shaking my head to try and forget it, at least for now. I guess that's one of the only things you do standing in a tower all by yourself. You think.

I continued to gaze towards the tree line that sat a good hundred meters from the FOB, the area that was completely enveloped by the shadows of the forest. I kept shifting my gaze from left to right, taking in a mental picture every time I looked to another area. For a good hour everything remained the same, until I looked back to the area of the forest opposite myself. It was there in the shadows I saw two small dots. Glistening white stones about eye length apart, and they were fixated on me. I began to focus my vision on them, and soon enough my eyes began to adjust to the light beyond the tree line. It was there the image of a figure began to form. It looked almost... huma-

"Hey boss, you alright?" I quickly turned to see Sam climbing the ladder to join me in the tower. As I confirmed who it was I turned my gaze back to the forest, only to see the figure had disappeared.

"Ya, I'm fine" I responded, shaking off the thought of the figure in the forest. "What's up?"

Sam held up a data pad, it's light slightly illuminating the area of the tower. "Techies just finished up with their analysis of the gear we sent em, thought you'd like to check it out." He handed me the data pad and shouldered his Battle Rifle, taking up over watch for a moment. I flicked through some of the files, finding details and profiles on the weapons and equipment we had brought back. Their weapons it seemed were along the lines of an energy based ballistic projectile launcher. Not quite rail gun material, more like little lightning bolts. It seems tests have shown they are used to incapacitate their enemies rather than killing them, and they had no effect on our armour, even that of the naval personnel.

I flicked over to the next file, finding a picture of their armour. It seemed to be made of some kind of steel based alloy, much lighter than steel but at the same time weaker. It fits the bill of the non-lethal weaponry as it could easily be used for crowd control and policing duties, but no where near combat duties. I flicked over to the last page to find a map of the world. On every single continent I saw red dots, some large and some small. But near our location there were no dots for up to a good hundred kilometres. I showed the map to Sam and asked him what it meant.

"Well Hardy had that AI run another in depth scan of the planet, mainly looked for civilisation. Results show that many areas are populated, which are the red dots, but the area we're based is about a hundred clicks from the closest 'live' settlement. Meaning that city near by is slightly abandoned." He turned his head back towards the forest as I shut down the data pad.

"Alright, you can head back now Sam. Based on these results I want to go back out there at sunrise, preform some recon." I picked up my weapon and continued. "Sun will be up in about five hours so go get as much sleep as you can." He turned to me, responding in a mellow tone.

"Actually, you need to go rest. You've not slept in a good twenty hours, and as the team medic I know that a tired soldier can lead to dangers. For himself, and his team. If that soldier is the squad leader it would be worse." I wanted to argue, but I couldn't for two reasons. One, he was correct, a tired squad leader could lead to misjudgements in tactical reasoning and thinking. And two, I was actually too tired to argue anyway, so I started climbing down the ladder.

"You see anything whatsoever, you come get me. No exceptions." He gave a quick nod and shouldered his weapon once again as I reached the bottom. Slowly making my way to the barracks for Raven I walked through the open door, finding the rest of the team snoozing away. As I dropped onto my bunk, slowly drifting away to the silence of the night my mind went back to the image of the human life figure in the forest. I wanted to think of something else but couldn't, but it didn't matter anyway, as I was fast asleep in a matter of minutes.

I was awoken but five hours later by Barry. "Come on boss, we gotta head out soon." Remembering I had ordered a recon mission for the early morning I got up, feeling the joints along my arms and back crack slightly as I stretched. Seeing as I slept in my armour there was no reason to get ready, so I was out the door straight after Barry.

The rest of the team had gathered at the gate after a quick breakfast, slightly eager to get on with the task at hand. I noticed Franklin was standing closer to the front than anyone else.

"I wanna bag one of those bear things today. Would make an awesome mount for the mess." I could see Katy shaking her head at his notation.

"You know the drill Franklin, no trophies." "I know, I was just having a laugh boss." Franklin was one of those kinds of soldiers you'd expect to never follow orders and do as he wishes. When I first met him I thought that, but later down the track I was surprised to find he was quite the opposite, making me glad for him to take point.

"Alright Raven" I said, catching my teams attention. "I want to do a recon around the city, getting eyes into it from new angles to see what we can find. Maybe if we're lucky we could set up shop in that tower and use it as a staging point. But that all depends on if it structurally sound, as the last time we saw it, it seemed to be falling over. Any questions?" Silence.

"Alright then Raven, let's move it, I want to be home by sundown." As the gates opened for us I gave Franklin a hand signal telling him to move out. A quick thumbs up later and we were on the move, walking towards the forest in a V formation. It took us a few seconds to reach the area where I had seen those two, what I had assumed to be eyes, but when we got there we saw no evidence of a person being there. No footprints, cracked twigs, nothing.

We continued forwards for about an hour, passing the area where we made contact with the military styled force. We decided to go around it and stick to the trees, just in case. Once we had passed that area and continued straight for another ten minutes we noticed something... odd about the environment. The vegetation began to grow darker, as if it was all dying. The sky began to turn a pale Gray and the air collecting a fine mist. As we pressed on these aspects began to grow more and more intense, as if we were walking into an entirely new world.

"Hey boss, you really think it's a good idea to keep going on?" Franklin yelled from the front. "Just keep moving." I replied at the same volume.

"I don't know, I've just got a really bad feeling about going any further." I would be lying if I said I didn't agree with him. We were standing in a dead wasteland at this point, all the colour drained from the land and sky. I took a quick glance around before coming to a decision.

"Raven, about face, we'll head back for today. Barry, on point." With that we turned around and began heading back towards the FOB, and as we marched I could not only see, but feel the life of nature slowly begin to return, right up until we reached the clearing once again. We kept walking for could have been fifty minutes until we heard a noise that put my hairs on end.

"What was that?" "A growl" Katy said, replying to Franklin. "And it came from a really big anima-" Before she could finish we heard something following the animal based noise. A scream, female for sure.

"Katy, direction and distance." "About five hundred meters south-west. So a good two hundred meters from the FOB." Without a second thought I ordered Raven into a run in order to cut whatever it was off from our base. A few minutes later we came across the clearing between our FOB and the forest, and we weren't expecting what we saw. It was a gorilla for sure, if gorillas could grow as large as tanks. As with the creature from before it's base fur colour was black, with white and red lines coiling around it's body. In front of the creature however was a small group of marines, and a human female.

"Katy, split that things kneecaps!" She then raised her rifle and took a shot at it's left leg, shattering the bone inside. It dropped to it's knee, screaming out in pain before Katy took out the second leg. Without thinking I holstered my rifle and pulled my pistol from it's mount, drawing my knife as well. I quickly climbed onto the back of the creature, stabbing it in the back on the way up. This only riled up the creature even more so as it shook and withered around, trying to shake me off of it's back. I held on tight however, placing the barrel of my pistol against it's skull I let off two rounds before it recoiled and launched me off it's back onto the ground. I landed on the ground with some amount of force a quick grunt. But before that thing knew it I had already launched myself back on it's neck. This time I placed my pistol where the brain would be and let of as many rounds as possible before the clip emptied.

It didn't even feel it. I simply flung me over it's back and continued to lash out at my team and the nearby marines and civilians. I looked over to my team and saw a rather large tree, wide and strong. Then a little light bulb went off in my head.

"Franklin, get that thing to charge you!" "What!?" he yelled in response. "Just do it!" I swear I could hear him moan from thirty meters away as he started laying out rounds from his battle rifle. It surely got the creatures attentions as it turned to face Franklin. It was frothing at the sides of the mouth, rage building inside it, until it let it all loose. It charged Franklin with a devilish speed, nearly hitting him before he ducked out of the way, making way for the creature to hit the tree full force. When wood and flesh collided it made a sound similar to sack of flour hitting a hard floor. Not wasting a moment I leaped to my feet and sprinted towards the animal. As it was dazed I slipped my knife out of its small scabbard, quickly running it along the creatures neck and seeing it go limp. It was dead.

"You alright boss?" I turned to see my team jogging up to me. "Ya, I'm fine. Can't say the same for hi-" As I spoke I noticed it's body began to disintegrate. It's remains turning into what appeared to be rose petals, drifting off into the wind, astonishing all of those nearby. I turned around to see the woman, who I now noticed had a child with her. They were both dressed in what appeared to be middle-class civilian clothes. I turned to face Barry a moment later.

"Get those two inside, somewhere safe. And get them something to eat." "Yes, Sir." Barry began to walk off as I stopped him. "And start making a log of these things. I want details on their strengths, weaknesses, specific abilities. Everything. Whatever we can gather to give us an edge over them." Once again he started to walk off, but stopped himself this time.

"What should I call them sir?" I thought about it for a moment before a female voice from behind us spoke up. "Grimm. They are called Grimm." I turned around to see the source of the voice was the civilian woman who we happened across. I looked back to Barry and nodded.

"Grimm is it then."

 **So, I've been wondering about something for the story since I'm back to writing it. Should I make everything during volume 3 canon to the story, or mix some of it in for the characters and let the story itself be from me? Reviews and DM's are accepted and remember to leave any criticism, I'm here to improve and can't without criticism.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Miscommunication

 **Several days earlier**

"What do you mean they 'absorbed' your rounds?!" As the soldier backed away from Winter, simply seeing her rage building he responded.

"I-I mean they were absorbed by their armour. We saw them make contact and simply fizzle away." Having his commaning officer step towards him, fists formed and anger in her eyes made him prepare for the worst. What he didn't expect to hear was an annoyed sight. Looking up he saw she had begun to rub her eyes.

"Do we at least know where they are?"

"Yes, ma'am. Sector 143-009." She broke her gaze with the soldier as he said this and walked towards the window, staring out into the night sky.

"Shall I send a combat detachment ma'am?"

"No" She replied. "We were lucky to have had no causalities the last time we faced these... what did you call them again?"

"At this moment in time ma'am we have no name. But I caught wind of some of the men calling them 'Reapers' ma'am."

"Reapers?" she replied, turning to face the soldier.

"Yes, ma'am. Only because with one combat engagement, they scare the shit out of the men. " Winter quietly pondered to herself on this for a moment, before dismissing the soldier. With a quick salute he turned on his heel and left the room. Winter continued to gaze out the window, looking upon the hundreds of stars filling the black void. She thought about how to take care of this newfound threat, these 'demons'. A few moments of thought were interrupted by the door opening, this time it being General Ironwood.

"You wished to speak to me about a new threat, Winter?" Her whole body turned to face him, standing stiff and strong as if on the parade ground.

"Yes sir, and I think I've also figured out a solution for it."

 **Present day**

"So these 'Grimm' are creatures that have roamed this planet for centuries? Ever since the first records of your kind?" Barry and I were sitting in the mess-hall with the civilian we had saved from that creature from earlier. We were discussing various things about her world, mainly current events, factions and world status. So far we had information regarding the planet itself, names of countries and governments, species that dwell on the planet and some current events.

"Yes, they have. We don't know where they came from, what they want or even why their hostile. All we know is we need to combat them on a daily basis in order to survive, and, well, it seems Beacon lost that fight." I saw her head tilt downwards, saddened by said event. I did the same in a show of respect, but still continued to ask her questions.

"And you say this event a Beacon triggered Grimm worldwide to become even more hostile to humans? Even going as far as to attack large cities in greater numbers?" She nodded and began to speak once more.

"Yes, it's as if it was a wake up call, one Grimm telling them all that we were weak, vulnerable. Ripe for the picking at their whim." She then stooped back into silence, indicating she didn't want to speak about this subject anymore. Before I could think of something to say Barry taped my shoulder, holding up a data pad with a logo on it. The logo of the soldiers we had encountered. It was a large cursive A, followed by wings on either side. Below it was S.D.C, we assumed it was part of the logo, so we included it.

"I have one last question for you, this one a bit more important." She raised her head to look at me, still saddened by the memory of recent events.

"Do you know what these are?" I turned the data pad to show her the logos. She looked at them for a short moment before speaking.

"That's the logo of the Atlesian Military."

"Atlesian? You mean the continent Atlas?" She nodded.

"Yes, they have the largest military in the world, and the strongest. Without them we'd have only the Hunters to defend us, along with the small military forces used by the other continents." I glanced over at Barry, the mention of 'hunter' being new.

"Alright then." I said, moving things along.

"Do you know what this means?" I said, pointing at the S.D.C. Once more she glanced at it and quickly responded. "The Schnee dust company."

"Shcnee dust company?" "Yes," she said, nodding once more.

"They are the primary exporters of dust, the substance I mentioned to you earlier."

"Indeed. Your planets main power source, correct?"

"Yes, and the Schnee Dust Company is on very good terms with the Atlesian military, powering many of their machines and weapons." I looked over to Barry who had finished recording what she had said and nodded.

"Alright, I do have another question now, but this one seems to be equally as important." She sat in silence, awaiting me to speak.

"What are these 'Hunters' you speak of?" She gave me a confusing look as I said this, a look similar to a child who was trying to listen to adults.

"You people really aren't from here, are you?" Barry and I exchanged glances before she started speaking again.

"The Hunters are... more or less the only thing keeping the Grimm from destroying the human race." I saw Barry stop recording notes for a minute as we both had a sudden sense of deja vu.

"They are quicker, faster, stronger and more skilled than any human on the planet. I don't know how they do the things they do, only that if you get in their way, your not going to be fighting against them for long." She remained silent for a moment, forcing me to get her talking again.

"And how many of these 'Hunters' are there?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"I have no idea, but I'd say at least a good three hundred. After the school here was destroyed the numbers may have dropped." I looked over to Barry who gave me a quick nod. Guess we knew what that broken down castle was.

"Alright, well is there anything else you can tell us about the Hunters?"

"Not really" she replied. "As you know I'm only a civilian, so we know little about the hunters, other than their obvious aspects, such as their young age and more odd abilities."

"What do you mean by young age?" She placed her hands back on the table and began speaking.

"Most, if not all hunters begin training at ages around eighteen and nineteen. I do believe there are some cases where they start young, such as a young girl from the school here who was about fourteen when she began." I sat on this topic in my head for a moment. The thought of starting such a program at a young age... seemed all too familiar.

"Right, well I guess that's all we can ask you. Thank you immensely for your time, and we'll have a pelican take you back to your home." She gave me a confused look as I stated my offer. She was quick to reply however.

"Thank you, but I'll be fine walking. I only live about an hour away from here." I looked over to Barry who, once again, shrugged.

"Well, would you like an escort? I'm sure one of my men would be able to get you home safely." She shook her head at this.

"Thank you once again, but I'd rather not. I know this area well and I know what to do if other Grimm come after me." With that she stood up and began walking out of the mess.

"Well, she certainly seems a bit odd. As if she's trying to get out in a hurry." Barry's words did ring true. She seemed on edge for the entirety of the conversation.

"Keep an eye on her until she leaves, when she does get Katy and Franklin to trail her home, just in case." Barry nodded and went off to carry out my orders. I sat there thinking for a few moments longer, about everything we had been told. No matter what, it was clear that we had to create a positive relationship between the UNSC and the governments of this planet, as a war between us could possibly lead to the deaths of most, if not all UNSC personnel on the planet and the Tip of the Spear. That is if these hunters are as good as they are made up to be.

 **Two hours later**

"This is Raven Temporary Actual to Eagle, how copy?"

"Eagle to Raven, read you loud and clear, what's your status, over?"

"Raven to Eagle, we're closing in on the approximate location of the females home, will inform when we have eyes on, out."

"Affirmative Raven, Eagle out." Franklin switched the radio in his helmet off and turned to Katy who was sever meters ahead.

"We getting close, sharpshooter?" She shrugged.

"Close enough. Should be able to see her house in a few minutes." Both Franklin and Katy were now lying down atop a small hill, watching the woman walk quite quickly in the direction she said her house was. Their gazes never left her, right up until she climbed atop another small hill nearby, then walking down it.

"We'll have to move to get a better view. Let's go." Franklin put his binos away, following the already moving sniper to their new viewing location, a larger hill next to the one the woman had gone over. They soon reached their view point, seeing a more flattened version of the terrain they were on now.

"Got eyes on K?" A moment of silence later she responded.

"Ya, and your gonna want to see this as well." Franklin looked over and saw her lying down next to a small bush, big enough to hid three people behind it. Crawling up next to her he pulled out his binos and saw in an instant what she was looking at. Under his breath he let out a soft,

"Holy shit."


	8. Chapter 8

**IM BACK BITCHES!**

 **Yes, I have come to finish, in full, the story I left because I had lost motivation. But that motivation hath returned, and bigger than ever. Part of the reason I 'died' was because my laptop had broken and I have been finishing my last year of school. That, and I legit forgot to tell you guys that was all happening, so ya, this is on me. But I'm back, the story is back, and now with my own set minimum of 5000 words a chapter, meaning more reading content for ya gits. Enjoy!**

Chapter 8: A solution

"You want to capture one of them?" The confusion in Ironwoods voice was clear, as was evident in his facial expressions.

"Yes, I do" Winter replied. "If we can somehow capture one of them we could find out who they are, why they are here and why they are hostile towards us. It may also keep those below them, what I would call their 'regular' soldiers in place, keeping them from advancing any further than we want."

Ironwood began to scowl at this plan, seeing the risks and possible casualties over the reward for a successful operation. "You're more than aware what can come from such a mission, right? The casualties, the public response if they find out, let alone how powerful these 'Reapers' are. I mean, 'rounds dissipating against armour into a fizzle', how can we fight that? Hell, even the 'regular' soldiers under their command have proven to be more than a handful."

"That's why I suggest using the robotic units, sir" Winter replied with haste. "There would be little risk to life involved, and even, then, for whatever reason these things seem to be avoiding death shots, only shooting to either injure, incapacitate or disarm. But I don't take this as a means of wanting 'peace', but more of a way of probing our forces. They did fire first after all."

Ironwood's look of disapproval at the plan continued to plaster his face, as if in thought. "How can we be certain they shot first? Do we have evidence of this? Along with this, why would they spare our soldiers and only shoot to defend themselves from soldiers shooting at them?"

Winter was caught off guard for a moment, and as she began to try and argue her point he started up again. "In addition to this, why not try and force peace? We've made no contact with these so called 'threats', they've made it so none of our men are dead, the worst is only injured to the point of being out of action for upwards of six weeks. Yet there has been no effort to make any form of contact, no form of intelligence gathering and nothing in the way of a report. This meeting alone is _the_ first I've even heard of these, quote on quote 'hostile'. What can you tell me that can even come close to changing my mind? I'll wait."

Once again silenced filled the room, this time for a while. About three minutes passed before Winter spoke once more. "Need I remind you, sir, this is our world, and we must defend it from anything that comes our way. The Grimm came from nowhere, became the most widespread and deadly threat to humanity, and we've stopped them time and time again. Rouge hunters have terrorized outer villages and towns, along with bandits, thieves, murderers and raiders. We've been there to stop them. And now a new threat has come knocking on our door, shouldn't we try and hold the door closed for as long as possible?"

Ironwood kept a stern glare on Winter as she spoke, taking in a thinking about every word she had said. But after another small amount of time, a sigh came from his mouth. "Ok, ok, we'll do your plan. But I'm going along as well. If we can form some kind of arrangement, and if we're lucky, alliance, then I'm going to try. And that means if they don't shoot first, we don't."

Winter gave a nod, "Very well, sir. I'll make preparations for our leave, along with the deployment of the 18th Robotics Regiment." With this Ironwood left the room and Winter went about preparing for the upcoming mission. She sat there from sometime after doing this however, looking up into the night sky once more, taking it all in. But for a moment Winter swore she could she one of the stars move slightly out of place.

 _Present Day_

"A base?"

"Ya, a bloody big one at that. Big enough to fit the _Tip of the Spear_ inside it." I sat pondering for a moment, thinking about how I should act on this new information.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about this base?"

"Ya, besides four huge walls, armed guards and a couple buildings, mainly hangers, barracks and a command centre, this thing looks hastily built, even by our standards. Other than that there is about twelve shipping containers located in the centre of the entire compound, along with two what I assume are high ranking personnel walking about, discussing something or other."

This information boded well. If there was a form of high rank there it could lead to a swift end to any and all conflict. But any initial contact could lead to unneeded deaths and destruction. While I thought Franklin began talking again. "You know we could always set-up a listening post."

I turned to face the screen again, "A listening post?"

"Ya, keep eyes on them, see what they get up too. We won't be seen if we do it right and Katy already has training when conducting such operations." I found myself seeing this idea as the best one we had available to us, being both safe and allowing us to find a way to make possible contact.

"Alright, the rest of _Raven_ will head out to your location with the required supplies and begin setting up a listening post. From there our team will stay at that location and do what needs to be done." "You got it, boss"

Franklin ended the transmission and I turned to walk out the door. Whatever these people want and whatever the reason for attacking us, I was going to find out and put an end to it. As I stepped outside I came face to face with Barry. "Sir?" he said, as if asking what was going on.

"Prep gear for a listening post ASAP, along with a Hog, while you're at it get Sam to pack his gear as needed, extra medical supplies and five times the rations. We'll be out of town for a while." As I relayed my second in command gave a quick nod and salute, then turned heel to find Sam and prepare for our next assignment. I continued walking towards the armoury, entering the security code and putting together gear that, besides our main armaments, could help us in quite a good way. As I was doing this I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, something I thought we would need if things got hairy.

 _Three hours later_

As we continued to trek up the hill I could hear a slight rustle in the trees. Holding up a fist signifying Sam and Barry to stop we all took a knee and raised our weapons, sights centred on the area the noise came from. We move up slowly, only a mile an hour until out of the bushes a single armoured hand coloured dark green shot up. Knowing it was Franklin the others lowered their rifles and walked up with me to find the listening post we were to set up covered with leaves, foliage and other sorts of flora that could prove useful to covering us from the world. On the far end was a wall made of leaves with the bottom part having half a metre open to conduct recon on the enemy base. As I continued to look about I noticed Franklin walking towards us past Katy, who was cleaning her rifle. He rose his arm, hand open, I clasped it in a greeting. "Took you guys long enough."

"Well aren't you the friendliest guy in the world, we got here quicker than any marines could, and we brought gifts." As I set down the regular listening post equipment I unslung the modified SRS from my back, handing it to Franklin.

"What's this one do?"

"Makes big things disappear. Anti-matieral rounds, would take out a Pelican in three shots. But I'd give Katy two."

"One" I heard her yell back, as if trying to provoke me to continue. As I turned back to face Franklin I noticed he was staring at the gun with envy. He looked the gun up and down, knowing all to well a smile was creeping across his face. He then turned his head back to me and began speaking. "I thought we were here to make a form of alliance, not blow these people to kingdom come?"

"If we run into another of those 'grimm' monsters, I want to be ready. Now, show me this base." As the other three began to set up everything we would need I lay down next to Franklin at the crest of the hill, peering over the edge with my binoculars.

"About one click out, bearing 223, you should see it in seconds." I saw it sooner than that, this thing was both way too big for stealth and was to hastily built to be any kind of effective. The 'walls' were nothing more than dirt raised to be chest high, while the towers were simply stairs and a fence. The barracks were tents and the hanger, while occupied by two sleek looking aircraft we'd not seen before were also tents, but just bigger. The command centre however, was different. It wasn't only effective looking, but also a million times comfier than anything we had back at FOB. It was a white, steely colour with what looked to be three floors. The first two floors had windows for me to see in, with the first floor being a mess of some kind, the second floor armoury and the third floor unknown.

"Fancy tech they got here."

"I'll say boss, along with that the two HR's are around that hanger right now." I moved my gaze to the area Franklin described and picked them out in seconds. One of them was a man, tall, proud and somewhat noble. He was both clean shaven and fit looking, imposing nearly. He wore a jacket in the same colours to the soldiers, but didn't wear armour. He did have a gun at his side, but it looked sort of like a flintlock, maybe a lever action. Could just be for show, never doubt a gun I guess. I turned my gaze to the other officer and found myself lost for words.

She... well she was beautiful, simple as that. Her hair was white like snow, tied up in a bun to keep it falling down and spilling around her shoulders. Her clothes, like the males were not armour but still looked military issue, but unlike his hugged her body somewhat tightly. She looked unarmed from where I was, but I had no doubt that cold look in her eyes meant she knew how to handle herself, no matter who came knocking.

I found myself staring a little too long and quickly came back to my senses. As I looked for a moment longer I noticed that they were chatting with a soldier, but this one wore black armour. Special Operations maybe? Could be stealth units or hunter units. Either way we'd have to watch out for them. "Franklin, did you find out what's in the crates?"

"Look at them and find out" he replied, and I shifted my vision to see the crates in full view. A few soldiers in the regular white armour were unloading what looked to be robots from them, but only slightly before turning them on. When active the robots shot up, pulled a rifle from their back and marched into formation. There were hundreds of them, all armed and ready for combat.

"Robots for war, seems we got a new threat."

"New, yes, threat no. I watched one of those monsters take these guys on earlier, weaker than the one we faced. It wiped out nearly a hundred of those bots." I turned to him, wanting more information.

"They walk forward, stand and shoot. Sort of like those robots we had back in the day, only worse." This did put a load off my shoulders, seeing as this new addition could pose our men no harm if we were well prepared for them. I began recording my view and carefully scanned all areas of the base. I wanted to watch this back and see if I missed anything, along with sending it to the FOB and _Tip of the Spear_ to both warm them and let them do further analysis. After I had finished recording I set my eyes back on the two officers, but I found myself unwillingly fixated on the woman. I had no idea why but her hair seemed to flow so differently to anyone else. Compared to Katy she was so much more in terms of appearance, but prideful and steadfast posture only complemented her figure. "Boss, I've found the civie."

The sudden appearance of Katy at my side nearly made me jump as I assumed she could read my thoughts and heard the comment about her. Thankfully this wasn't the case. Knocking the side of my head and coming back to reality, I asked her where she had seem them. "Second floor, command centre. It seems our civilian isn't really a civilian." I soon has eyes on, and quickly noticed that our previous guest seemed to be a member of that black armoured unit.

"Could she have been feeding us false information?"

"Don't know sir, but it seems that female officer you were oogling is heading in their direction."

 _Meanwhile, inside the Altesian Military Command Centre_

"So let me get this straight commando. I send you to try and get as much information from these guys as you can, get captured, see how horrible they treat you, what kind of information they want from you and even go as far as to kill as many as possible if they prove to be too hostile, and you end up sitting down for tea, lunch and talking about our general world?" Winter was beyond belief at what the soldier had been telling her, seeing is as far from the actual truth, not knowing how correct the soldier was.

"That's on the dot ma'am. I'm still trying to understand myself, but when the Grimm out of nowhere, not only did the Reapers risk everything and all to protect a random civilian, but also the regular soldiers. And after that they gave me everything I would need to get home safe, let alone an armed escort, which they did infact offer, and only asked for information regarding the overall world, factions and events."

"It seems they may not be as hostile as intended, Miss Schnee. Perhaps we could come to an agreement with them yet?" Both Winter and the Commando turned to face and salute their commanding officer, General Ironwood, but not without Winter beginning to speak. "Sir, with all due respect I wish to continue with my plan. Capturing one of them could lead to a swift and decisive end to the Reaper threat. And with multiple factions opening up offensives against humanity, how can we know they don't side with our enemy?"

Ironwood held up a hand, as if to tell her to stay quiet for a moment. "I'm not stopping the plan Winter, all I ask is for you to avoid any unnecessary violence, understood?" A nod from the former showed that Ironwood could put her trust in her to keep things getting worse. He then turned to the commando and began to speak.

"You're dismissed, Corporal." A quick salute and five seconds was all that was needed for the soldier to disappear into the hallway. Winter stayed silent for a moment, as if waiting for her superior to speak. He stepped across the room, taking time in his moments and thoughts. Not before long he picked up a rifle, the standard issue used by most military units across the world.

"I'm sure you know what this is, Winter?"

"Yes, sir. The R-05 pulsor rifle. Uses magnetic energy to propel small traces of pure energy at targets in order to eliminate them."

"Yes" Ironwood replied. "You are correct in every sense of the word. But research just came back from the R&D labs. Something troubling..." Ironwood paused for a moment before continuing. "The rifle normally packs a punch against anyone and anything, even hunters. Until now." A look of confusion crossed Winters face before Ironwood continued once more. "Research shows that these rifles lack and kind of penetrating power to penetrate the outermost armour used by not only the Reapers, but also these, what I am told by Intel are called 'Marines', the regular soldiers they use. But further more, video research has told us that these Reapers utilise some sort of exterior shielding mechanism, capable of deflecting, absorbing and redirecting any kind of small arms fire with some ease, depended on round, power output and penetrating power. The maximum power we can output is nowhere near their minimal breaking force, far, far from it in fact..."

"Sir, what does this mean?" A hint of concern laced itself in Winters words, even thought she knew exactly what this meant she needed that extra confirmation before she should rethink her plan. A few moments passed before Ironwood spoke one last time.

"Even if we wanted to attack them, even if we want to defend ourselves from them, even if we wanted to do anything. We would never be able to even scratch their fucking paint. So, in order to help with _your_ plan, and my goal of reasoning with them, I've got an idea."

 _Raven Team, listening post location, three days later_

Three days and not a change in sight. Both Franklin and I had spent the last eight hours surveying the base, bored and hoping for something exciting to happen. Sam and Barry were busy making a dinner that was at least edible out of ration packs and Katy was up a tree keeping an eye on all of our flanks. "We've been here for two days and nothings happened boss. What are we even watching for?" The sudden question from Franklin was enough to break me out of a daze, shoving me back into reality.

"Anything" I responded. His groan only meant he didn't agree, and he was keen to let me know this.

"The only two things that have changed are that those robots are all set up now, waiting for something, and your damn fixation on that chick with the nice body."

"Pardon?" I said in reply, raising my head from my binos.

"Ya, all you've done is watch her every move. You forget I can see that marker where your eyes are looking, and every, single, bloody time she comes out you just start staring like a fifteen year old looking through a college girls window."

"I've gotta agree with him this time, sir" Barry said from the stove. "You've been pretty keen on keeping your eyes on her. Why?"

"It's pretty damn obvious. He's in love." Katy's response didn't help the situation, and it only riled Franklin up more.

"Oh, is he now? I bet he just REALLY wants to cuddle up next to her on a cold, dark night, doesn't he?"

"Shut your mouth" I said, watching the base through my binos.

"He just wants to sweep her off her feet and take her to a castle in the hills to live happily ever after." As Franklin was speaking I noticed something odd about a vehicle that just pulled up in front of the Command centre.

"Franklin, shut up."

"All he wants to do is hold her, love her, and do some REAL naught thing with he-"

"Franklin, shut up and look" I said, slapping him across the back of his head. Growling he pulled up his binos again, but soon stopped as he saw what I saw.

"What the fuck?" he cursed, attracting the attention of the others, who soon came up behind us, asking us what is was. As we watched this vehicles two of those black ops troopers who've been in and about of the base pulled a man out of the vehicle. He was wearing marine armour. He was wearing _our_ marine armour.

"They've got one of our guys. How, when? Why didn't the _Spirit_ tell us?!" Franklin's questions and accusations would have lasted an hour if Barry hadn't interrupted him.

"It's entirely possible we aren't in contact with either them or the FOB. I've have plenty of trouble reaching them for some reason, and anything to and from the ship is nothing but garbled mess." I sat there watching as the marine prisoner was taken into their command centre, all the way to the third flood.

"We've got no eyes" I reported. "They've taken him to that third floor. The one we can't see." This didn't bode well. We had no idea if they were going to interrogate him, keep him prisoner, or just kill him up there.

"Boss, we need a game plan." Franklin was right, we needed to do something, but what?

"We could do a full frontal assault, get him back quick and hard."

"No, we don't want to start a war. Remember we need to form an alliance." Katy's argument to Franklin's suggestion made him quiet real quick, but he still grumbled at this.

"We could do it but leave no survivors, no one to tell the tale." Sam's idea was terrible, but could work in the end. Thankfully Barry told him we we were not the Covenant and wouldn't just kill innocent people who are just defending their world from invaders. The bickering and arguing went on for about three minutes as I lay there, thinking of a plan that could work. Suddenly it came to me, a risky but possible plan. I shot to my feet which caught the attention and the silence of my team. Turning to meet their gaze I saw I had their full attention.

"A sneaking op. I go in, get out with the prisoner, get back here and exfill. Alone."

The silence that came from my answer to the situation was nearly worrying, until slowly the others began to mutter about the plan. "Alone, sir?"

"Yes, Katy. Alone."

"But, why sir, why alone?" It was Barry's turn to ask a question, looking to get the details as to why with haste.

"Because if more than one goes in, we'd be caught. A group of two or more is just asking for unwanted attentio-" Sam rose his hand to get me to stop speaking for a moment.

"You are aware out of everyone here, your armour doesn't really scream _stealth_ , right?" This was true however. Katy's armour was a deep brown, making it easier to blend into the trees. Sam stuck to the shadows in a dark black and grey. Franklin held a dark green base with black accents, making anything in a green area easy stealth for him. And Barry was a nice, relaxing shade of burgundy, making anything soil or sand based his home. Me on the other hand, bright white doesn't work well, but that was part of the plan.

"I am well aware of my armour colour yes. But that's why I suggest going in during the morning, especially since I am going into the command centre. During the morning my armour colours will not be a noticeable, and most of the soldiers here will be lined up for morning formation. I could sneak into that command centre, which is bright white inside and outside by the way, get the prisoner and leave out of the back exit before anyone could notice." The other looked amongst themselves as if trying to assess my plan without words.

"And I need each of you to do a certain job to make it possible." This caught their attention once more, with all of their heads turning to face me.

"Katy and Franklin will be overwatch, ready to cover fire whenever required. Sam will be close to the base exit a hundred metres away from Katy and Franklin's position, ready to help me receive the hostage and exfil to their location. Barry will be giving me any and all intel that he can to help keep me aware. Got it?" Another bout of looks went around, with the next question coming from Franklin.

"Don't you want to make peace sir, form and alliance? Wouldn't an armed rescue operation only prohibit that?" I thought about it for a moment, until I had my answer as clear as day.

"It could, but the fact of the matter remains. One of our men, our allies have been taken prisoner, and we need to do something _now_. If we do this right, and we do it fast we can be in and out before they even notice. This could lead to the end of the hostility between us and a saved marine, so it's a win-wins situation. What do you guys say?" I could still feel they were no at ease with the plan, until I saw a universal group of nods in agreement go around.

"Alright, boss, we're with you. I guess you are the CQC specialist of the group, so it's only wise you go into such a situation." Katy's words of encouragement were comforting, especially with the newly forming situation at hand.

"But how are you getting in sir? That command centre is in the middle sight of the parade grounds." I could only grin at Sam's question.

"Don't worry, I've already got a plan to get in and out."

 _Seventeen hours later, 5:30 AM_

"How the hell did we let you walk in there under a fucking box anyway?"

"Because Franklin, sometimes all you need is simple and ugly to get the complicated and fancy job done." I was slowly edging myself towards the command centre's door inside of a white metallic box that we foundon the outskirts of the base which we decided to _re-purpose_. As I was getting close to the door I noticed a large amount of soldiers gathered in formation on the parade grounds.

"Looks like morning formation's begun, sir. You better move it." Barry's words helped me edge closer and closer to the door, remaining unnoticed until I had reached the sliding doors. Upon getting closes I crawled out under the box and through the automatic doors. Raising my M6 I saw that the hallway to the elevator was clear and open. I quickly tucked myself outside of sight from the parade grounds. And just in time as well, as when the doors closed two soldiers on patrol had found the box I was in, and began to speak.

"What's this box doing here?" one of them said, as the other inspected the direction I came from.

"Who's footprints are these? Come on, we should check this out." And with that the soldiers had jogged away, leaving me free to infiltrate their command centre.

"I'm in" I reported over the radio.

"Alright, sir. Go to the end of the hallway and call the elevator. Try not to kill anyone, it'll make the job harder unless we have to go loud." I gave an affirmative in response and continued moving forward, protruding my silenced BR55 in favour of the M6. The hallway was small and short, making the travel time between door and elevator pleasantly short. As I opened the elevator doors I quickly swept the room. Finding nothing in it I continued inside, pressing the floor button '3' on the way in. The elevator slowly moved to life, just as Franklin came in over the radio.

"Boss, we're seeing those black ops troopers on the parade grounds, and their armed. Should we be worried?"

"Unless they begin moving my way, don't worry about it. Could be their customs to keep weapons on them during parade." Franklin didn't like it, judging by how fast he responded.

"I don't know, sir. Even if these guys are a lost UNSC colony, weapons in parade seems real odd."

"Don't worry about it Barry" I responded. "As I said, unless they begin to move towards my location, it's fine." Silence came from the radio for a short moment as I continued to watch the elevator slowly move up. That was until I got a response.

"Understood, boss. Will keep eyes peeled." As the radio crackle died away I had just reached the third floor, with the doors kept closed.

"Entering the third floor now" I reported over the radio as I opened the doors and quickly swept the room. Not a soul in sight. As I entered the room, careful to watch the three doorways I began to take the room in. A window was in here, but on the far side of the base, as this room seemed to be more along the lines of offices and high ranking quarters than anything else. Nothing worthy of noting however, mainly a lounge and kitchen area. My eyes drifted back towards the three doors on the end and I noticed that each of them were labelled. The far left had 'Schnee' on the front, while the middle had 'Ironwood'. I made sure to record the names in the video cam for further reference. The door on the right however was unmarked, and I had a sneaking suspicion that's where our marine was held. I slowly edged towards the door, and as I made contact I turned on heel and began to watch the rest of the room. Ensuring it was clear I quickly glanced at the door handle and tried to open the door. It was locked, obviously. The door was all but unknown to me, with nothing on the outside that could allow me to open it at all. Most likely sensor built, but it seemed like it would be easy to get in forcefully. I went back on the radio, ensuring the team would be ready if this went loud.

"Raven, I have to bust a door open, unsure if an alarm will go off or if armed personnel are inside. If anything happens let me know and I'll get out with the hostage sharpish."

"Understood sir, Raven is ready for quick and loud exfill if need be." Making sure that they were ready I turned to face the door, planting my foot behind me. I then reeled back and planted my foot hard into the area next to the door handle, not just opening the door, but also breaking it off the hinges. I had confirmed the room clear by the time the door hit the floor. All save for the marine sitting across the empty room in a chair.

"Hostage located, Raven. Our hosts aware yet?"

"Negative, sir. Black ops units seemed on edge for a moment, but are back to normal now. You're lucky that male officer decided to give a speech real quick." Unaware that was happening I slowing scanned the room, making sure no traps were in place. Once again, it was all-clear. A notation that was beginning to make me uneasy. I slowly approached the marine, who's head was slumped down, most likely passed out.

"Marine, are you ok? I'm with a rescue team." No response.

"Marine, are you awake, can you hear me?" I said, getting even closer. Still no response.

"Raven, marine is passed out, moving towards him in order to-" As I got within touching distance I noticed something. His armour was off, colours were right but those colours were either different shades or were missing in some areas. The radio began to speak but I didn't notice for a moment. His armour was... ribbed? Marine armour was meant to be flat, with even curves, not sharp edges. The radio began to get louder, and words began to form in my mind, but I gave it no attention. I lifted the marines head, only to see it wasn't a marine, but a dummy. It was a trap. The armour cardboard, the under clothes simple casual wear. I sprang back and activated my radio with haste.

"Raven, the marine is a fake. I repeat, it's a dummy marine. We've been set-up!"

"Boss, you've got that black-ops team closing in, and that female officer is with them!"

 _Chapter End_

 **Once again, feedback in reviews or PM's would be appreciated, and hopefully the next chapter will be out within the next two-three weeks.**


	9. Chapter 9

**So the plan for now is to take the story itself a little slowly now so I can get back into the swing of things. When I planned the story out it was mainly major events and such, the filler stuff in between was given little thought so I have to take a little more time on it so I know how to move into the next 'arc' we could say. Either way, enjoy!**

Chapter 9: Breaking down barriers

"What!?"

"That black ops team is on the way up, two of them are already inside and rushing the elevator!" I looked back towards the door and realised they'd be here in less than a minute. Grabbing my rifle I rushed out of the room, looking around for possible exits. My eyes met the window, it was my only chance of getting out. As I approached it I noticed there was no lock, it was another sensor lock. I looked around for another route of escape when the radio sparked back to life with Katy's voice in my ears.

"They've all gotten in the elevator and the doors of it have closed, you gotta hurry!" Things were getting close, and there was no other chance of escape. I could fight them off and rush out of the front. But I'd more than likely be seen by those on the parade grounds. I'd be overwhelmed. I could rush the vehicles on the side of the building, but chances are they have another kind of sensor lock on them. Becoming lost in thought I had all but forgotten about the elevator, hearing it clunk into the roof. It was too late. The doors slammed open and a group of four black armoured soldiers quickly made a move to corner me near the window. I raised my rifle to meet theirs, constantly switching targets to keep them away from me. It was then she came out of the elevator, the female officer. She walked with the nobility and pride, but her face stern and unflinching.

"We went to some trouble to lure you here, set up a base, posted a garrison, even made a plan to overwhelm your base with robotic units. All of it to capture at least one of you." Her voice was like the way she looked. Elegant and beautiful, but still holding that subtle harshness. As I continued to switch my rifle between targets I noticed something hanging from her hip. A sword of sorts, more than likely her own means of offence and defence, but alongside it was a card, most likely an identification card. Bringing my head back quickly I noticed the two frontal soldiers had switched out their rifles for knives.

"I didn't want to resort to violence, but in order to keep you getting away we have to injure you to the point of not being able to walk. I guess it's worth it for all the trouble it took us to find your little listening post." She knew? I guess we were a little close for comfort anyway, was bound to happen. As this thought went through my mind the left soldier lunged at me, and I quickly countered by bringing my rifle across his arm, pushing his blade out of the way while also pivoting on my foot to slam my elbow into his head. The other one began his attack from a lower angle, allowing me to bring my right foot back, which was his target and cause him to collapse to the floor. Throwing the butt of my rifle in the head of the first soldier I also lowered myself in order to catch the second soldiers arm and twist it, causing him enough pain to drop the knife straight into my hand. The other soldiers followed their allies lead and attacked me with knives. The third soldier tried to slash down from above, but I caught his arm with both my wrists locking in a 'V' shape, bringing his knife around to deflect the fourth soldiers. Throwing him over my shoulder into the second soldier, knocking them both out next to the first the fourth soldiers tired to stab me in the throat. Quickly side-stepping I caught his arm in single handed lock lock, dropped the knife and pulled my pistol from my holster, smashing him over the back of the head and then aiming at the female officer. Her men were subdued. A quick look of anger crossed her face before it went back to the usual appearance, which was quickly led by her slowly walking towards me, sword drawn.

"I figured as much. Even our best soldiers are no match for you. But I assure you, I won't be as easy a challenge." As she got closer I heard a small ding to my left. Quickly shooting my eyes over I saw the door marked 'Schnee' light up green around it's border. Guess I knew who she was now. My eyes darting back to her I noticed her card lit up green as well. Maybe... If I could just get her to come closer. She continued to approach, ten metres, eight metres, five metres. Then a ding behind me.

"Do you have anything to say at all? You've been too quiet." Looking her in the eyes I took a step back, while holstering my pistol.

"Ya, bye." I leaped out the window, hearing her sudden footsteps try to follow me. Landing on my feet twenty metres down I looked up to see her face, full of fury. Quickly flicking my fingers at her I began to run towards the entrance I came from. Obviously an alarm began to sound and soldiers everywhere began looking about, confused and frantic. In the confusion I was actually able to make it to the gate due to my OPERATOR helmet being similar to theirs in a way, along my armour colour being close enough to theirs, allowing me to post as one of them from afar. It was only when I made it to the gate I heard shouts behind me, the female officer was barking orders and pointing in my direction. Turning I saw a tracer round hit the weapon of one of the remaining black ops troopers, while at the same time the radio cackled back to life.

"Keep going, sir, we've got your back." I saw multiple tracers rounds go overhead, turning to see them hit only weapons and very few joints to temporarily disable their men. Glad that my team was following instructions I kept on running till I found Sam. Turning around and holstering his BR55 he joined me in sprinting up to the listening post where the other three were located. Rounds still being fired we made it up there in less than twenty seconds. As we entered Barry had already handed me communication equipment.

"The hog is two clicks out" he began. "If we hurry and leave no crucial gear behind we can make it without being caught." Giving him a nod the entire team went about gathering gear, excluding Katy, who was still putting out rounds to keep them from getting close. That was until we heard her rifle click.

"I'm dry!" She yelled out, leaping to her feet and switching her SRS for the DMR. It didn't matter anyway, we had to move and I could already hear footsteps coming up the hill, fast. Telling my team to double time it we sprinted off into the direction of the warthog, stopping only for a second or two to shoot behind us to slow our determined pursuers down. We made it about one click in, repeating this process every ten seconds before we heard sounds overhead. Ships, and not our ships. Three enemy drops ships had circled us over head, with the front one dropping about then soldiers, with three black ops units mixed in. We stopped dead in our tracks, aiming our weapons at them, not firing due to them holding fire.

"Boss, what's the game plan!" Thinking for a moment I yelled out to form a circle to keep and eye on the other twenty soldiers, six black ops included who had surrounded us. No one fired a shot and we kept switching initial targets in order to be ready for the first shot, if it ever fired. Looking dead ahead I saw the units Katy and I were watching split in half, allowing both the female and male officers to approach. While the female still held her usual demeanour, the male officer looked rather troubled, even when he began to try and speak.

"Alright, let's all calm down, lower our guns and talk this ov-"

"Take them!" The female officers voice boomed over the males, causing all of the soldiers to rush us. Knowing full well this was going to be fought in close quarters I quickly holstered my rifle, along with Katy and we rushed the first unit. Smashing my fist into the first regular soldier, I grabbed his rifle and swung it around to knock another out. As this happened my instincts and Spartan reflexes brought my hand up to catch another soldiers arm with my forearm, stopping his knife in the air. Grabbing his arm I twisted it, causing him to scream in pain before I shoved him into another soldier, who was unable to get up under his weight. Seeing two blacks op units approach me I noticed Katy has just finished with her fourth trooper. As both black ops units rushed towards me with knives in hand I elbowed one in the face, stepping out of the way of his knife, while bringing my hand down to catch the others knife. Squeezing my hand hard enough to cause him to drop his knife I pushed him towards Katy, who threw him over her shoulder via his neck and cause him to pass out. Bringing my attention back to the other black ops unit I picked him up, planted my hand on his helmet and brought his head down onto the ground hard, knocking him out instantly. Both Katy and I looked back up to see the female and male officer starting in what could have been disbelief and amazement mixed. I could hear the sounds of the others mopping up their troops, but this ended quickly, leading to them rejoining us. As we stood before the two the male officer went to speak again, only to be interrupted by the rasp of the female officers blade leaving her scabbard. At the same time a majority of the soldiers who we had fought began to get back on their feet. Arming themselves once more. Signalling for my team to take the others, I walked towards the female officer who was ignoring the orders to stand down from the other.

Not two steps were taken before she had tried to lunge through me with blinding speed. I was nearly hit square in the stomach before I stepped to the side and let her blade impale itself into the tree. Turning around, drawing her sword out of the tree she gave me a look of fury. Blind fury. She might have a form of 'white-line fever', but for battle instead of sport. Trying to charge me again she swung her blade to and fro, not in wild movements, but in controlled, powerful and deadly swings. Each time I was either able to avoid them or deflect with my combat knife. But I wasn't able to push back either. Slowly I was being pushed back into a tree, until I finally made contact. As my back was planted against the wood, nowhere to go she brought up her sword, ready to slice me right across my chest. Her sword came at me with speed and power I'd never seen before, but thankfully I was able to catch her arm in a 'V' lock as I leant to the right, just as she took out the tree behind me, and somehow, the five behind that. For a moment her face showed a look of disbelief, as if what was happening shouldn't be possible. Seeing my chance I brought my knife up across her arm, planting the blade against her wrist I flung it away from her body, causing her blade to twist in a way that made her let go of her sword. Now disarmed I grabbed her now weapon less arm and used it to fling her to the ground, drawing my pistol and causing her to sit-up in shock. I had won.

I assumed she thought I was going to kill her, up until I offered her my hand to help her up. Her face looked... calm for a moment, as if surprised and lost in thought. But this quickly changed as she hit my hand away, grabbed her sword and stepped back to the male officer. As she did so I noticed that my team had finished dealing with the other soldiers and came up next to me. Franklin came up on my left, raising his rifle at both officers, but I quickly planted my hand on it, pushing it down.

"Well, I guess that means you want to talk?" Turning my head back to the male officer who had just spoken I gave a slow nod.

"If you wouldn't mind." Before we knew it, more than triple the numbers of soldiers that we faced had just surrounded us, all weapons trained on us. The male officer stepped forward, continuing to speak.

"Unfortunately, my superiors want to do this Winter's way, and take you in for proper questioning." As he spoke a drop ship landed behind the now somewhat smug female officer, opening it's bay doors.

"If you wouldn't mind?" she said, stepping to the side as if inviting us. I looked between both the officers, eyeing them up until I responded.

"No, not all of us." This caught both of them off guard, and caused drastically opposite reactions.

"Excuse me!?" the female officer announced, nearly yelling. This was met by her being silenced by the other officer.

"What do you mean by 'all of us'?"

"I mean we're all not going" I responded. "There is no way I'm letting my team be taken prisoner." The male officer seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, before his face lit up once more, and idea obviously formed in his head.

"Well, we are willing to take just one." I thought about this for a moment. If only one of us were taken, then the others could report back and help defend the FOB. Along with this if a rescue mission was required it could be staged from there. But who should be sent? As if I didn't already know the answer I looked back up to the male officer and answered.

"If I go with you, alone, will you allow my team to be given safe passage back to our FOB?."

"Yes, of course" the male officer replied. "All I ask for is a cease of offensive operations." I told him this would happen and agreed to these conditions.

"Boss, you can't! This is insane." I ignored Franklin's comments and saw that the male officers face had lit up, as if thankful for the cease in hostility.

"Alright, one of you it is. You're team is free to head back home." He turned around with the now sour looking female officer and walked towards the drop ship. I turned around handing my weapons to my team and looked at Barry.

"You're in charge of Raven while I'm gone. Report back, defend the FOB, and await my return, clear?" He looked down at the knife I gave him, almost like he wanted to argue my decision, but quickly looked up again.

"Understood, sir. And if you need us to, we _will_ come for you." I gave him a nod and tapped his shoulder in goodbye. This was all moving too fast for any of us, but to allow them to go free without resorting to more combat I had to do this. As promised their forces left my team to leave as soon as I boarded the drop ship, which took off high into the air, heading opposite to the base and our FOB. I sat down adjacent towards the male and female officer, who were both looking me up and down. The male had an almost relieved face, as if he wanted to avoid any more unneeded violence, while the female still looked slightly sour, but still pleased with her catch. The silence was maintained for several minutes until the male spoke.

"You could remove your helmet if you want?" My silence seemed to be more than enough for an answer to him, as he quickly looked away again. I looked out of the window towards the landscape, wondering why the hell I allowed for this to happen.

 _Three hours later, UNSC FOB_

"And from there he allowed himself to be captured in order to let us free." The captain was rubbing her hands across her eyes until she began to speak.

"So tell me Raven-2, why didn't you tell us about any of this."

"Raven-1 believed because we, as Spartans operate outside of regular naval matters we should be doing what we do best. Operating alone. Along with this communications were down and we couldn't radio back to you or FOB." She shook her head at this.

"Inexcusable, but we have to adjust to the situation. Do we know where they are headed." Barry looked down at his pad as if to confirm something and nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. While they were taking off and no one was looking I launched a tracking device onto the ship. We can follow if it required."

"Do so, and I want good news next time." As the communication feed shut down Raven team stood in silence for a moment, until it was broken by Franklin.

"She seems pissed for some other reason, I just can't put my finger on it..." Everyone else seemed to ignore him as Katy walked up to Barry.

"You're the boss now Raven-2. What are our orders?" He turned around, looking at each Spartan individually. That was until he had come up with a plan.

"We follow them. We're not attacking anything, rescuing anyone or destroying any buildings. We preform as much recon as possible and try and find a way to get out of this mess." The nods from the team was the green light for Barry, more than enough to commence a mission to get his team lead back.

 _Altesian military headquarters, two hours later._

The room was well lit, spacious and seemed quite comforting. That is if it wasn't an interrogation room, with naught but four chairs, a table and a voice recorder. I sat across from the two officers, who I know knew as Winter, and Ironwood. The female and male respectively. We had sat here for a few minutes, with both officers preparing to ask questions based on who I was, what I was doing here and why I had come. And I was already impatient with the waiting after ten seconds. Soon enough Ironwood began to speak. "Well, I guess it's only wise to ask who, or what you are first, right?" I looked him in the eye under my helmet, and answered promptly.

"Who I am is classified, what I am is clear, and why I am here I am yet to know?" He sighed at this, with the female officer giving me an odd look, but when back to writing things quick enough.

"Alright then, how about you take your helmet off, get comfortable."

"Why are you so keen to make me take my helmet off?" He shrugged at this.

"I guess it's the safety of knowing who we are talking to that helps with asking these sorts of questions. The psychological stuff, you understand?" I didn't agree with him, but peace with these people is ideal, so I have to play along, at least for now. I removed my helmet and placed it on the table.

"I am a Spartan-III of the UNSC's Spartan Program, designed to help combat the covenant. And from what I assume your people on this planet are a missing colony of the UNSC." Ironwood looked taken aback at this, the sudden surge of information and such. Looking over to Winter he wanted her to write this down, but soon noticed she was lost. Her eyes were glued to me and her mouth was slightly open, as if she was transfixed on me. He waved his hand in front of her eyes, which was more than enough to wake her up. Quickly writing down what I had said the questions continued.

"Well, the big question is, where are you from?"

"Me, Classified. But we came from Reach." An odd look came from Ironwood.

"Reach?"

"Yes, a military based planet belonging to the UNSC." Another look came across his face resembling confusion. But this time it seemed to happen to Winter as well.

"By, planet, you mean in space, right?" I gave another nod.

"Yes, and that question alone confirms my suspicions that you have no idea about the UNSC or the war. If you like I could go into detail about that?" He turned to Winter and said something under his breath, most likely telling her to record all of this down. Facing me again he said he would like that. I went into detail about everything not classified. The war, the UNSC, the Covenant, everything. With every new detail about us, the UNSC and what we have done I could feel both Winter and Ironwood shrink under me, as if scared of what I was capable of.

"I... I see. Where you're from, a space faring organisation, you've been doing whatever you can to ensure humanities survival?"

"Yes, with our lives if need be."

"Then, we're not so different in a way, right? We fight to ensure humanities survival on this world only, but the idea is still the same." I couldn't help but agree. While our wars are vastly different in how they are waged, the technology used and the scale, we both fight for our races survival.

"Moving on, the information you've given me makes it sound as if you ended up here by accident, as if you didn't mean to, quote on quote 'invade' us?"

"Absolutely" I responded. "We happened upon this planet in one of our operations which I cannot go into detail about, and we have no way of leaving the planets orbit without risking all lives on our ship. We were hoping to make planet fall to ask for the help of the local populace, but ended up in a hostile engagement with your forces, leading to us making a cold war of sorts." Ironwood looked confused at the term 'cold war' unsure of what it meant, but decided to keep the interview going. When he was sure Winter had recorded that he spoke once more.

"A large majority of the information surrounding you... 'Spartans' was it?"

"Spartan-III's in my case, yes."

"Right, Spartans" he repeated. "You make it sound as if you are, disposable. Why is that? Wouldn't warriors of your calibre be more appreciated, or valued?" This was crossing into some territory I shouldn't talk about. But, seeing as trust is the biggest part of making peace, I should trust them with this information.

"It's not that we aren't appreciated, or valued, but because we have to. The two reasons is one, the war demands we put ourselves on the very brink of death everyday in order to ensure our survival, and two, because of us being Spartan-III's alone." As Winter continued to record the information, glancing up every so often, Ironwood still didn't look convinced with my answer.

"Could you elaborate on that last part?" I shrugged.

"I can't really. Pretty much all information regarding us is classified and under lock and key, a key no one can find. If I tell you, can you assure me only the two of you would ever know about this?"

Ironwood gave a nod and Winter, while hesitant placed the writing utensils down, as if complying with my request. With this I began to speak.

"The Spartan-III program was made to create disposable super-soldiers. We do suicide missions, expect high casualties and are more than likely not to come back from our first mission. All of us were orphans before, and pushed into service as Spartan-III's." It was at this moment Winter first spoke, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"You were conscripted as children? You didn't have a choice?" I shook my head.

"No, we didn't. But our families, our friends. They were all taken away by the covenant. So when we were taken, none of us argued. Some of us were even thankful for the chance to get payback. Me, I don't care. All I want is an end to the war. I don't more people to die, and if I have to use my life for that to happen, so be it." I went silent again, allowing them to take this information in. Winter had regained her composure, but still looked shocked in way. Ironwood stood up and asked for Winter to join him outside. As they left I was alone in the room. I sat there for about ten minutes, waiting before the door had opened again. Ironwood walked in alone and began to speak.

"Due to us having to... process some of this information, we'll end the questions for the day there. We'll continue later but for now we'll show you to the room you'll be staying in. You'll also have full access to the gym if you wish to spend time there, along with the courtyard. But if you leave your personal room you must take your escort with you, alright?"

"Understood. And this escort is?" He chuckled, as if enjoying some sort of game.

"Winter will be your escort. Treat her well and she will treat you the same way back. I'll be talking to you again tomorrow." With that, he left the room and walked down the hallway to the right. As he did so I noticed Winter was standing in the hallway, looking away from me.

"Come on" she said, telling me to follow her. I see why he enjoyed assigning her, as if he knew she held some sort of resentment against me. I got up from my seat while putting my helmet back on, left the room and followed her down the left side of the hallway. We walked in silence as she kept an even walking pace in time with mine. We kept walking down long hallways, passing soldiers every minute or so. Each of them looking at me with either fear, amazement, or a mixture of both. It took about eight minutes to reach the room I would be staying in. Winter stepped to the side and pressed a button on the door, letting it slide open.

"If you need anything you need to press the intercom button on the inside. If it's food you wait until all other soldiers have left the mess hall." I gave her a nod and walked into the room. It was similar to the rest of the building. White, wooden finish and comforting. There was a soft looking bed, a desk with pens and paper, a doorway to what I assumed was a bathroom and a couch in the back corner. The door behind me closed and I heard Winter walk away from the door. She was stern, that's for sure. But in a good way I guess. As soon as I thought the coast was clear I activated my radio.

"Raven, are you there? If not are any UNSC units on this net?" Silence, not even a cackle. Figures, I must be out of range. Way out of range. I sighed and took my helmet off, chucking it onto the bed and then sat down at the desk. I was at least making some sort of peace with these people, but being out of contact with my team wasn't the best of situations. If they tried to launch a rescue operation it could jeopardize everything I'm trying to do. I sat back and thought about the situation I was in, and the people around me right now. Ironwood seemed nice enough, and was more than keen to see an end to any hostility between our groups. The soldiers were the same in a way. They had seemed distant at first, but warmed up to me. And then there was her. Winter was... different. She was cunning, strong and beautiful. Her presence both calming and warm.

Shaking my head I tried to drop that from my mind. I began to think about how I could pull this off. If I play my cards right, get friendly enough with both of them I could actually form an alliance between us, which could lead to us getting back to Reach. I closed my eyes and dozed for a moment, breathing slowly and letting my thoughts run free for a moment. But no matter what I did I always ended up thinking of either my team doing something to mess this up, or her...

Sighing I got up and paced the room for a bit, thinking of what I should do with this free time. I looked at the clock and was thankful they used the same digital system as us. It was late, about half past eleven. No one would be up and about, and chances are the entire facility would be clear of soldiers, excluding the barracks. Thinking about what I could do an idea popped in my head, one that could help me in the long run. I pressed a button on the intercom and told Winter I'd like to go to the mess hall.

"I'll be there in a moment." She sounded annoyed, like I was interrupting something. Soon enough she opened my door and led me to the mess hall, saying she would be staying with me till I was finished. I agreed and followed her, once again getting odd looks from soldiers as we made our way there. Could be a good chance to get on her good side.

 _Eighteen kilometres south_

"The tracker says we're eighteen clicks out of his location. I'd say another hour and we'd be close enough to start setting up shop." Barry's announcement put Raven on edge. Being this close to an enemy HQ could prove to be negative to the situation at hand. Trudging behind Barry Katy began to speak.

"What if he's trying to bring about peace in there? For all we know he's made a deal of sorts and our presence here could throw the whole thing in the bin." Barry kept looking forward, keeping up a firm jogging pace.

"As I said, this is purely a recon mission. We're not going to be infiltrating anything or 'rescuing' anyone unless we need to. All I want to do ensure his safety." Silence crept over the area again as the distance began to close, with the entire team concentrating on moving through the tough terrain. Not twenty minutes passed until the team found themselves on a large mountain, which thankfully overlooked the HQ in question.

"Looks like we've found our building. Sam, you packed the long distance scope, right?"

"What, did you think I wouldn't?" Sam replied, pulling out a piece of equipment resembling binoculars on stilts, setting them up and then focusing them in on the base in question.

"Clear as rain. Take a look R-2." Sam's joke didn't amuse anyone, with the entire unit agreeing to leave that area to Franklin. Barry then got on his stomach as the others began to set up tents, camouflage and other facilities. The building itself was a mixture between what looked to be an old government complex and newer, more military centred buildings. Barracks, armouries and hangers mixed with regal and posh hallways, gardens and yards. And everywhere he looked, guards, donning the white colour scheme. The entire complex was littered with at least a hundred armed guards in view at all times. Some doing their job well, others sitting around, talking. But all of them still alert and aware to their surroundings. Wherever their man was, he'd most likely have at least a dozen of these guys around him.

 _Present time, Altesian Military Headquarters, Mess Hall_

"Are you sure you aren't going to eat anything? From what I remember I've been near you for six hours now and you've not eaten a bite." Winter scoffed at me as I set my tray down.

"I'm fine. Just hurry up and eat so I can go to sleep." Her attitude went back to the stubborn side,the side that Ironwood told be would break down eventually. Yet she made it seem as if that would never happen. We were in the mess hall, which was devoid of all life excluding us. I sat down and took up the knife and fork, slowly eating the meal set-out before me. For the lower training standards and equipment strength, their cooking surpassed ours by centuries. The food seemed simple enough, beans, corned beef, vegetables, basic stuff. But the way it tasted, along with the textures just made it so much more enjoyable than anything the UNSC had to offer. Every so often I would notice Winter looking at me, only for her to look away when I returned the glance. After about ten minutes and halfway through my food I began to ask her questions.

"So, where are you from?"

"E-excuse me?" I looked up at her.

"Where are you from? You local to the area or?" Another scoff told me she didn't want to answer any questions, especially from me.

"Alright, I can take a hint." Returning to my meal the silence was short lived.

"I'm from Atlas." Looking up again she was looking down at the table to avoid eye contact.

"I was raised from nobility, ended up attending a hunter school and then enlisted after graduation. My entire life was planned from the beginning. I didn't have a choice until I graduated, when I decided to take control of my life and enlist." Finishing the food in my mouth I responded.

"So you were meant to become a noble as well? Fancy dress parties, gatherings and charity events?" She nodded.

"Something like that?" She didn't speak any further, allowing me to ask another question.

"So, that black ops unit, they with you? You train them?" She regained her usual composure and spoke.

"Most of that information is classified, but yes, I did train them." I nodded.

"You trained them well. They move quick, and with purpose. Good teacher I supposed." She seemed unchanged at this, and still remained silent, but for a second I thought I caught a hint of a smile forming.

"Any family or close friends? Brothers, sisters, boyfriend?" Her face turned red at this and she quickly looked away.

"No! Not at all!" Could be a touchy subject, I decided not to dig further.

"Well, a brother and sister. But that's all I'm going to say." Nodding I placed my knife and fork into the middle of the plate, getting up to put them away.

"Why are you asking me these questions anyway? What do you have to gain?" I looked back down to her, seeing a face stern, but inquisitive. I smiled at her, responding after a few seconds.

"A friend." Her face seemed to calm a bit, until she looked back down, averting my gaze.

"Meet me by the door, I want to go to bed." She quickly got up and walked towards the door. Don't know why she seemed to act strange like that, considering Ironwood's description of her, but I shrugged. Could be a quirk of hers. Either way I felt I was making progress, which was crucial to the goal of friendship between our groups. Placing my tray in the used section and donning my helmet I headed towards the door, seeing Winter standing by it. As we walked back to my room I began to think to myself, what do we do after peace is attained?


End file.
